While you may submit a claim on your own, we highly recommend consulting an attorney before submitting a claim form and electing to represent yourself in a complex bankruptcy matter. This increase was made possible by the Trusts cumulative sales of 190 million shares of Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) stock since October 2022. RELATED: Fire Victim Trust answers questions about $51 million spent as CA wildfire victims await payments. 15, 2022,the By our calculations, our attorneys for our PG&E Fire Victim Trust settlement were fairly compensated for the time they spent on our claims processing with the Trust. Trustee, Most vulnerable in this process are the wildfire victims who were uninsured, underinsured or have potential claims against the company for personal injury and wrongful death. SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Fire victims struggling to rebuild after California wildfires say they need every dollar coming their way from a PG&E settlement. In November, Yanni told KQED she expected it would take two years to pay all victims with claims. Some fire survivors fear it will take much longer. The longer it takes, the higher the cost of overhead will be. Worse, the risk from fires has only been partially addressed. As part of a settlement, the Fire Victim Trust received half of an expected $13.5 billion payout in stock and the rest in cash. KQED. The Butte Fire, North Bay Fires and Camp Fire burned 400,000 acres, destroying 10s of thousands of homes and other structures. So, 85% of the wildfire victims voted to accept the only deal offered. After this sale, we now own about 21%. Retrieved June 5, 2022, from https://abc7news.com/pg-e-fire-victims-victim-trust-fund-ca-wildfire-not-paid-taxpayer/11593929/, (7) Jamali, L. J. The TCC and its attorneys have a fiduciary duty to advocate for the interests of all fire and other tort claimants in the bankruptcy proceeding. the press release here. The trust, which he took over two years ago, was funded with $13.5 billion, half in cash and half in the PG&E common stock. Gavin Newsom and U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali and is being implemented by PGE Fire Victim Trust Trustee John Trotter who suddenly retired this week. In retrospect, perhaps Judge Montali might have selected a Trustee in the prime of his career and less stubborn about getting his way or the highway and less sensitive to constructive public criticism. NEW YORK, Aug 11 (Reuters Breakingviews) - An experiment in compensating disaster victims with corporate stock has not gone well. Today, the Fire Victim Trust holds almost a quarter of PG&E shares. Again, the majority of wildfire victims had been waiting 3 to 6 years (in our case 3 years) and his words fair settlement in a reasonable amount of time washed over us like a long-awaited shower after being stranded in the wildfire jungle for years. In January, PG&E made the final installment on its promised trust fund contribution, adding $592 million to the fund. Here's a low/no cost preparedness step that's easy on your budget and time #readyoakland #energysavingtip , Insurance bailout fund crippled by lawsuits, claims as Louisiana policyholders wait for relief https://www.nola.com/news/insurance-bailout-fund-crippled-by-lawsuits-claims-as-louisiana-policyholders-wait-for-relief/article_1bd8be08-7d79-11ed-a34d-a3d14a027624.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=user-share via @nolanews, After more than a decade serving as Director of @Cal_OES I am super excited to hand over leadership to an exceptional emergency manager, leader & public safety professional. %PDF-1.6 % None of these entities were required by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to take one-half of their settlements in PGE stock. More information about the PG&E bankruptcy is provided below. (2019, July 12). Trotter, who has faced increased criticism in the last six months, including a letter from the Butte County Board of Supervisors asking for more transparency, said at the end of his letter to victims that the decision to resign before the end of July was an effort to keep a promise to his family that he would retire after just two years on the job. Legislators have presented a bipartisan bill that would exempt federal taxes on the money survivors get from the Wildfire Victim Trust Fund. 1 Sansome Street, Ste 2830 In that rubble Internicola says he found the only item that survived, a ring his father gave him. . Our work to process claims continues, and todays news is a sign of significant progress. Https://Inthesetimes.Com/Article/California-Fire-Victims-Awaiting-Payment-from-Utility-Company Retrieved June 5, 2022, from https://inthesetimes.com/article/california-fire-victims-awaiting-payment-from-utility-company, (11) Morris, J. M. (2021, August 23). The FVT was created in July 2020 and funded with both cash and shares of stock pursuant to PG&Es Chapter 11 Plan of Reorganization. (1,2) Instead, the facts show that payments to victims have been pro rata at 45% of victims' losses, and again, this is 45% of a 60% average settlement offer (and 33%-plus of this goes to the victims attorneys fees and costs). PGE Fire Victim Trust (Well-Paid) Bureaucracy, At the top of the fee food-chain heap is, of course, the Fire Victim Trust managers (i.e., the Trustee (John Trotter), the Manager (Cindy Yanni), and the Special Master (Ellen Sickle James) who are reported to earn make $125,000, $200,000 and $176,000 per month, respectively. Copyright 2023 KGO-TV. NORTH BAY, CA U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena) co-introduced legislation Wednesday that would ensure fire survivors are not taxed on payments received from the PG&E Fire Victims Trust. "It shouldn't be a taxable event upon them because they're victims of fire," said California Congressman Doug LaMalfa. As of March 15, PG&E had paid out $3.04 billion in preliminary and pro-rata payments and awarded another $7.04 billion in determination notices. 1054 CHAPTER 79. KQED analyzed federal bankruptcy court filings, court transcripts and correspondence between victims and staff of the Fire Victim Trust. Retrieved June 5, 2022, from https://www.kqed.org/news/11891626/hedge-funds-cash-out-billions-in-pge-stock-fire-survivors-suffer-and-wait, (2) Trust Distributed $1.69B to PG&E California Fire Victims in 2021. The court-ordered trust of over $13 billion was established for survivors of devastating Northern California wildfires including the 2015 Butte Fire, the 2017 North Bay North Bay Wildfires (includes 22 major fires), Cathy Yanni appointed Administrator of Wildfire Assistance Program, PG&E and Tort Claimants Committee reached $13.5 billion settlement, Hon. (1,2,5,13), The Sting - The PG&E U.S. Bankruptcy and PG&E Fire Victim Trust, This petition addresses how the unbridled power of the U.S. Bankruptcy system and its Judge (Dennis Montali), Wall Streets Hedge Fund Managers, Pacific Gas & Electric corporation (the largest U.S. public utility) and its lawyers, insurance companies and governments and victims lawyers worked together and/or independently to financially dominate and become the largest beneficiaries of the $55 billion PG&E wildfire bankruptcy payouts. Governor, we are one of 68,870 families and businesses (250,000 Californians) waiting for full relief for our PGE-caused losses. Check out Bay Area safety tracker, Bay Area Life; Sundays at 6:30 p.m. on ABC7, Fire Victim Trust answers questions about $51 million spent as CA wildfire victims await payments. Will new regulations do enough to keep homeowners from losing fire insurance. Assembly Bill No. Read In a letter to fire victims in April, fund trustee John Trotter said it had retained Richmond, Virginia-based BrownGreer to process claims and that the firm has 300 staff members committed to this project, including attorneys, project managers, analysts, claim reviewers, and software developers.". Officials for the trust declined to provide KQED with a list of companies it is working with and what it has paid them. Trotter, a retired California Appeals Court judge, charges $1,500 an hour, according to court filings, while claims administrator Cathy Yanni bills $1,250 an hour. "We remain right on the exact same spot with the identical house we replaced," said Internicola. But KQEDs review of documents identified more than half a dozen law firms and financial institutions that have profited from the Fire Victim Trust. All such claims must still be filed on an individual basis. I have tried to work cooperatively with the Trustee while pressing for payments to be expedited with greater transparency and accountability, he said in the statement to this newspaper. (2021, October 11). - The company filed for bankruptcy in January 2019 following a series of wildfires in 2015, 2017 and 2018. The IRS letter echoed articles you have - The Dixie Fire is now the second biggest wildfire since 1932, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. What's wrong with this picture? Scott McNutt, a former California State Bar governor and veteran bankruptcy attorney, told KQED the amounts charged are excessive for the meager results obtained so far and that the trust has been completely non-transparent about what its doing for this money., One of the hallmarks of the bankruptcy process is transparency, he said. As to the victims payouts, to date (May 27, 2022), about 65% of the victims have received pennies on the dollars for their losses with 35% of the victims still waiting for a first pro rata payment, with most victims challenging their settlement determinations as unfair and underpaid as determined by the hundreds of Trust managers and staff, who incidentally are paid much more than fairly on time each and every month. Your attorney will prepare the necessary information about your case and file a proof of claim on your behalf in the PG&E bankruptcy court. ), Trustee of the Fire Victims Trust, announced in a letter to fire victims Tuesday that he will be retiring effective June 30. A Cascade of Outrage Follows Investigation Into PG&E Fire Victim Trust Expenses. The Claims Resolution Procedures approved in PG&Es bankruptcy cases require the Trust to issue a single Determination Notice that includes all claims in each Claims Questionnaire. As part of the bankruptcy proceedings, the U.S. We are making every effort to pay as much as we can, as quickly as we can.. While the TCC acts in the collective interest of all tort claimants, the committee does not represent any individual homeowners, renters, businesses, or other wildfire victims in their damage claims against PG&E. Legislation could make PG&E settlement money for CA wildfire victims tax-free from the federal government, but the bill is stuck in Congress. Their millions upon millions of dollars from their 33% contingency fees from hundreds/thousands of wildfire victim clients they represent (plus costs) were in the balance and the sooner PG&E came out of bankruptcy, the sooner theyd start to get paid as the PG&E Fire Victim Trust excruciatingly slowly started to make pro rata (that is, partial) payments to some of their clients. PARADISE, Calif. - There is a new To download an extensive set of FAQs, click here. 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