Finding An Attorney To File A Class Action Against A Utility

[Mr5150]

Originally Posted by Des-Lab

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?

I’m no shill. But I am big on self responsibility and not suing everyone when life tosses you lemons. My wife is an attorney and to put it politely, she said you don’t have a chance to prevail in this matter. That’s why no one will take this case. Sure its legal to sue anyone for anything. (One of the problems of this day and age.) But surges when power is restored is a fact of life. And for your information PGE was successfully sued twice in the last three years when it was determined their faulty equipment started two major fires.

[musicfamly5]

Originally Posted by Des-Lab

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?

I think now it's time for you to start a bit of an investigation yourself if you want real answers. I'm guessing that's why no lawyer wants to take up your case; the case will depend on WHY the surge was so massive and lead to the issues you faced. The work to prove that Edison didn't intentionally do anything wrong and the massive surge was just a random freak accident with no clear cut reason is going to be extremely hard to uncover without a larger investigation and no private lawyer wants to do that. The pay off is too low compared to the time it would take getting all the details and gaining the knowledge needed to show neglect and harm on Edisons' part.

Maybe if you did a good portion of the footwork to uncover info revealing that the massive surge was a direct cause of Edisons neglect and due to their performance you suffered. You need to figure out the procedure for remedying a power outage and then figure out what Edison did to make this particular surge different from the others and how that relates to your lost of property. Then you can also look at how the increase of the surge directly applies to your increase of the bill since if Edison was responsible for directly causing the massive surge you can argue that lack of responsibility directly affected your bill which means Edison directly profited from their "mistake".

It'll be a hard thing to do; you need to figure out the procedures, investigate the employees who responded to the problem and were responsible for the "fix, and you'll need to establish an intent to harm as well (charging customers for their screw up would probably fit here nicely). So far Edisons golden ticket is that someone else caused the problem in the first place rather then faulty equipment or such, so the focus for them is to prove they did everything by the book and this was just a freak event. The fact it hasn't happened and could be written off as a fluke situation may give them an advantage unless you can prove they did something different or neglectful this one time. I would also consider looking at why your community was so hard hit. It could be an combined issue with your communities construction if all the homes were built at the same time with the same electrical issues and by the same developer with is just more to look into.

Sorry for the book worth of text and your entire situation. Unfortunately sometimes all the bad players in life seem to team up with one another and find a way to make life miserable for those just trying to do good and get by. Hopefully this gives you some some ideas of some steps to take to getting down to the bottom of all this.

[Bill the Butcher]

Originally Posted by Mr5150

Pay attention??? Where did the OP mention SCE? Do you have a mirror handy?

Another poster linked an article that stated it was SCE who was responsible for the power surge.

Plus, OP posted in another thread a week or two ago right after this incident that it was SCE. Where did OP say it was PGE that was at fault for his towns specific power surge? OP mentions PGE but not in the context that they were the culprit for the power surge that knocked out his appliances and wiring.

[Bill the Butcher]

Originally Posted by Des-Lab

SCE/Edison was the utility involved and who I'm directing my anguish at. Not PG&E.

No apology needed. Some of us followed along just fine.

Hope this problem is resolved for you.

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

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.

Well, you lost all sympathy from me with this hateful, racist rant. So, if there were no hispanics in California, there would be no drunk drivers here? This is proof of a conspiracy that the state of California wants white middle class citizens to leave the state? Did you lose your tin foil pyramid hat?

[Bill the Butcher]

Originally Posted by NoMoreSnowForMe

Well, you lost all sympathy from me with this hateful, racist rant. So, if there were no hispanics in California, there would be no drunk drivers here? This is proof of a conspiracy that the state of California wants white middle class citizens to leave the state? Did you lose your tin foil pyramid hat?

OP's theory isn't adding up for me either.

I think it is more likely this story is not getting the attention it deserves because it happened in a poor Central Valley community. And not even won of the larger Central Valley cities like Fresno or Bakersfield. Middle/Upper Middle class in a town like Tulare would probably not be viewed by outside attorney's as the same as in a coastal city or even Fresno/Bakersfield. Tin foil hat theory aside, I hope OP and the rest of his community can band together to make some sort of change and maybe get reimbursement. And even in Tulare I would assume there is a decent Hispanic population among the Middle/Upper middle homes in the community.

[evening sun]

maybe sue for your own damages in small claims.

[mgforshort]

This entire story belongs on Sixty-Minutes, City Data can't help the OP and his neighbors.

We had close to fifty power outages here in PG&E territory since 2015 and we never had any damages from the power getting restored. I'm not defending PG&E, they burned down our town of Paradise due to poor maintenance.

What happened to Des-Lab is not normal and not acceptable in a civilized country.

I spent 27 years in Europe and we had one power outage lasting one hour.

I have no idea about salaries at SCE, but I know the CEO of PG&E gets 2.5 million. In dollars. He gave an interview on TV and mixed up the name PG&E with his old company.

I seriously doubt that the CEO of Tokyo Electric or Deutsche Electric gets anything close to that.

We pay our governing elite exorbitant salaries for poor performance.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by mgforshort

This entire story belongs on Sixty-Minutes, City Data can't help the OP and his neighbors.

We had close to fifty power outages here in PG&E territory since 2015 and we never had any damages from the power getting restored. I'm not defending PG&E, they burned down our town of Paradise due to poor maintenance.

What happened to Des-Lab is not normal and not acceptable in a civilized country.

I spent 27 years in Europe and we had one power outage lasting one hour.

I have no idea about salaries at SCE, but I know the CEO of PG&E gets 2.5 million. In dollars. He gave an interview on TV and mixed up the name PG&E with his old company.

I seriously doubt that the CEO of Tokyo Electric or Deutsche Electric gets anything close to that.

We pay our governing elite exorbitant salaries for poor performance.

Now there's an idea!

Keep up the good work, mg. Great post. I hope things work out for you in Paradise.