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I would suggest looking locally for an attorney in the Tulare area. Someone with a connection to the community and an understanding of the power surge and ensuing damage to the system and appliances that happened to the local residents. They may be able to at least point the community in the right direction if a class action suit is what is needed.
By the way, my coworkers brother who lives in the area was one who was also affected by this with many appliances now not working.
"In a statement, Southern California Edison said generally SCE is responsible for losses that occurred due to negligence and not by causes beyond SCE's control."
Correct. SCE is NOT responsible for the outage caused by the drunk driver. But SCE IS responsible for turning the power back on in a competent and safe manner that does not damage the property of hundreds of residents.
Power outages due to storms, etc., happen from time to time everywhere. Widespread damage due to power surges when restoring power is not normal. IHMO it is strong evidence of negligence, improper operation, lack of maintenance or bad design in the system.
You're fighting the good fight, O.P. Best of luck to you!
100% agree. This should be a slam dunk case for an attorney IMO. Everyone lives in a community that has power outages due to car crashes, storms etc. But i’ve only ever heard of one such outage that caused this much damage to an entire community. Obvious the utility has done something wrong here.
OK, but the OP was talking about PGE. A company in bankruptcy. One can sue them, but you won’t collect a cent even if you prevail. OP take note. Focus on the drunk driver
It seems to me that everyone who was hurt by this could file an insurance claim. Then, sue the electric company and/or the drunk driver for their deductibles in small claims court, where the max is $10,000. I'm assuming that would cover their deductions.
Lawyers will take a case if they think they can make money on it. So, if you can't find a lawyer to take this as a class action, they must not think they can win or at least make enough money to justify their time and resources.
But, you can all start filing insurance claims, then file small claims court actions. It would be fun if all of you organized to show up at the courthouse on the same day to sue for your deductibles and call the news station, too.
My guess, is the electric company would pay you all your deductibles because they can't send a lawyer to small claims court and they'd be sending some manager out to represent them - never do that. They'd just pay up.
I recently did this with AARP The Hartford. They dinked me around on a renters claim (truck broken into, and the stuff that was stolen was covered) that they denied. I went around and around with them, then just filed a small claims court action and subpoenaed any recordings they had of my phone calls to them and any in-house documents regarding incentives to deny or delay or lowball claims. They paid me the full amount I wanted and that they should have just paid me.
Anyway, it's another way to go. Good luck.
I thought these sort of damages were covered under home warranty rather than home owners insurance.
This is just a joke. I'm starting to think that maybe we are just screwed. I mean look at Flint. United Airlines. Indeed PG&E and what they have been legally allowed to get away with it, even though it's plainly obvious that people are getting screwed over left and right.
I've inquired to a hundred firms if I've inquired to one.
Only two have issued any sort of response.
Two.
One flat out said they weren't interested. The other expressed interest and that "they'd get back". Yeah, that has brush off written all over it.
Curiously I've even filed complaints with both the CPUC and the California DA's office. Neither has responded either.
Regarding insurance....again...most homeowners insurance has anywhere from a $1000 to $10,000 deductible. Which means for many of these homes, it's cheaper just to pay out than file a claim. Even with ow deductible policies, that's going to be more than offset by higher premiums.
Either way, we are all paying a lot out of pocket and getting shafted.
And I can't help but think that the REAL reason no one will touch this boils down to politics:
The person that did this was an early 20's single mother of three Hispanic woman looking for a place to live.
The exact demographic the state is openly catering to. Almost certainly doesn't have a dime to her name. Even if we were to sue her, there would be simply nothing to go after. It would be an empty, futile, pointless gesture. She will almost certainly not get so much as a speeding ticket, much less do any prison time.
All of the homes/families affected were middle/upper middle class.
Exactly the demographic the State has been openly hostile to and is determined to either chase out or else tax them until they too become Bourgeoisie.
Imagine the field day the press WOULD have if we did sue her: "Racist, rich middle class and big utility all gang up on poor Latina woman just struggling to make ends meet". Of course no one will focus on why she was out drunk at midnight on a weeknight. I'm probably racist just for asking that kind of question.
Had this happened in....say...San Francisco....or...indeed West Tulare (the poor side), I guarantee you this would have had ten times the amount of press coverage as it has and layers would be dueling each other to the death to take it on.
And then connect the next dots: If PG&E can literally get away with murder and be allowed for entire towns to get wiped off the map, surely the state won't have a problem with a few blown microwave ovens. And besides. The sudden surge of out-of-necessity replacement sales and the taxes that go along with them are certainly most welcome.
But I had to hound and hound and hound just to get the two tepid stories we did get.
I'm running out of ideas here and just don't know what else to do.....except bend over and close my eyes.
Lawyers are dime a dozen. I can find attorneys specializing in things like criminal law, family law, employment law, DUI, etc by the hundreds all day long.
Finding one willing and interested in a Class Action, however, is a whole different story.
I've inquired with dozens of firms all up and down the state about possibly exploring and filing one against a utility company.
Haven't received a single response. Not one.
Is this the classic passive-aggressive "No answer IS your answer"?
Here in Central CA, a few weeks ago, there was a power outage caused by a drunk driver. And when power was restored a few hours later, a massive surge went out. Hundreds of homes suffered various degrees of damage, ranging from a few blown switches and fuses to major like fried appliances like TV's, dishwashers, A/C units to catastrophic as in the entire electrical systems in the house, effectively rendering them condemned and uninhabitable. Damage assessment continues to take place and continues to grow. By the time all is said and done, it will probably be in the millions inasmuch as entire neighborhoods and subdivisions were affected. About 150 families (and counting) so far are banding together and getting organized in seeking any possible legal action and remedy. The local media has already ran two stories on this.
And to add insult to injury, the utility has notified all of us that because of the sudden "extra usage in power", that we can expect this and next months bills to double, triple, or quadruple, even though it's pretty obvious what this "extra usage" was: it wasn't. It was rammed through the wiring.
These are all new and recent build homes with modern electrical systems and fuse breakers. The fact that even those got toasted speaks volumes about just how powerful the surge was.
The extent of this damage is far, far too great to have just been an isolated incident.
The utility has, of course, thusfar denied any responsibility as well as all claims and is standing behind the "this power outage was beyond our control" rhetoric.
We generally agree that the damage was not caused by the outage per se, but as a result of when the power came back on. Nobody could find any statement of indemnity on the utilities part from that perspective.
The City has been notified and has been curiously silent on all of this. But the City is mired in its own disarray and scandals.
Piecing all of this together and another possible theory/explanation has come to light:
When the power lines were laid out, inadequate safety measures/shortcuts may have been taken, which the city knew about and signed off on. Kickback perhaps?
That would explain why they have nothing to say.
Any way you look at it, this is definitely huge and has massive lawsuit written all over it.
But to find a law firm willing to take it on?
I can't believe that as many attorneys as there are out there, not one has expressed a scintilla of interest.
Or are the utilities so well shielded in CA (PG&E has been effectively told they can literally get away with murder and not have to answer for it) that it's just not a fight that we have any possible chance of winning?
Any guidance would be appreciated.
Thank you
Quote:
Originally Posted by Des-Lab
This is just a joke. I'm starting to think that maybe we are just screwed. I mean look at Flint. United Airlines. Indeed PG&E and what they have been legally allowed to get away with it, even though it's plainly obvious that people are getting screwed over left and right.
I've inquired to a hundred firms if I've inquired to one.
Only two have issued any sort of response.
Two.
One flat out said they weren't interested. The other expressed interest and that "they'd get back". Yeah, that has brush off written all over it.
Curiously I've even filed complaints with both the CPUC and the California DA's office. Neither has responded either.
Regarding insurance....again...most homeowners insurance has anywhere from a $1000 to $10,000 deductible. Which means for many of these homes, it's cheaper just to pay out than file a claim. Even with ow deductible policies, that's going to be more than offset by higher premiums.
Either way, we are all paying a lot out of pocket and getting shafted.
And I can't help but think that the REAL reason no one will touch this boils down to politics:
The person that did this was an early 20's single mother of three Hispanic woman looking for a place to live.
The exact demographic the state is openly catering to. Almost certainly doesn't have a dime to her name. Even if we were to sue her, there would be simply nothing to go after. It would be an empty, futile, pointless gesture. She will almost certainly not get so much as a speeding ticket, much less do any prison time.
All of the homes/families affected were middle/upper middle class.
Exactly the demographic the State has been openly hostile to and is determined to either chase out or else tax them until they too become Bourgeoisie.
Imagine the field day the press WOULD have if we did sue her: "Racist, rich middle class and big utility all gang up on poor Latina woman just struggling to make ends meet". Of course no one will focus on why she was out drunk at midnight on a weeknight. I'm probably racist just for asking that kind of question.
Had this happened in....say...San Francisco....or...indeed West Tulare (the poor side), I guarantee you this would have had ten times the amount of press coverage as it has and layers would be dueling each other to the death to take it on.
And then connect the next dots: If PG&E can literally get away with murder and be allowed for entire towns to get wiped off the map, surely the state won't have a problem with a few blown microwave ovens. And besides. The sudden surge of out-of-necessity replacement sales and the taxes that go along with them are certainly most welcome.
But I had to hound and hound and hound just to get the two tepid stories we did get.
I'm running out of ideas here and just don't know what else to do.....except bend over and close my eyes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill the Butcher
It’s not PGE. Pay attention. It is SCE.
Pay attention??? Where did the OP mention SCE? Do you have a mirror handy?
The only reason I'm using PG&E is as a comparison and reference point vÃs-a-vÃs what utilities have been legally allowed to get away with. And what PG&E has pulled off is beyond egregious and criminal. But what's ethically right and wrong versus what the (likely paid/bought off) lawmakers are saying are telling two very different stories.
I still maintain that this was negligence on Edisons part. But getting someone willing to take it on seems to be the challenge. And I'm using PG&E as a barometer only because I don't know of any comparable cases in which to draw history from involving Edison.
My apologies for not being more clear on that point.
SCE/Edison was the utility involved and who I'm directing my anguish at. Not PG&E.
The only reason I'm using PG&E is as a comparison and reference point vÃs-a-vÃs what utilities have been legally allowed to get away with. And what PG&E has pulled off is beyond egregious and criminal. But what's ethically right and wrong versus what the (likely paid/bought off) lawmakers are saying are telling two very different stories.
I still maintain that this was negligence on Edisons part. But getting someone willing to take it on seems to be the challenge. And I'm using PG&E as a barometer only because I don't know of any comparable cases in which to draw history from involving Edison.
My apologies for not being more clear on that point.
SCE/Edison was the utility involved and who I'm directing my anguish at. Not PG&E.
Thanks for the clarification. I think the fact you can’t an attorney to sue SCE is because they understand the drunk driver is at fault, not a utility company.
Thanks for the clarification. I think the fact you can’t an attorney to sue SCE is because they understand the drunk driver is at fault, not a utility company.
The drunk caused the OUTAGE, yes. No one is disputing or questioning that.
Where we think Edison DOES lie at fault was, as I've repeatedly said, when the power was restored.
Can you explain to me under what circumstances (since you're starting to come across as a shill for them BTW), damage to this extent is not only legal, but to be expected and something that was foreseeable?
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