PG&E Camp Fire Lawsuit: The $13.5 Billion Fire Victim Trust

The Camp Fire

The 2018 Camp Fire was California’s deadliest and most destructive wildfire: it killed 85 people and largely destroyed the town of Paradise. Investigators tied its ignition to PG&E electrical equipment. Combined with the 2017 North Bay fires and the 2015 Butte Fire, the liability was so vast that PG&E filed for bankruptcy in 2019.

PG&E later pleaded guilty to counts of involuntary manslaughter over the Camp Fire deaths — an extraordinary criminal outcome for a utility.

The $13.5 Billion Fire Victim Trust

As part of PG&E’s bankruptcy exit, a Fire Victim Trust was created and funded with $13.5 billion to compensate roughly 70,000 victims of the Camp, North Bay and Butte fires. But payment has been slow and controversial: much of the trust’s funding came in PG&E stock whose value fluctuated, administrative fees drew criticism, and victims initially received only partial pro-rata payments that rose over time as the trust liquidated assets.

Former PG&E executives also agreed to a $117 million settlement of claims related to the fires.

What Victims Should Know

Victims file and are paid through the Fire Victim Trust’s official process, which publishes the current pro-rata payment percentage. The Camp Fire saga is a cautionary tale about funding a victim trust with a company’s stock — recovery depends partly on that stock’s value — and about how long compensation can take even after liability is clear.