26 F.4th 1085 (2022)
Firm: Cravath, Swaine & Moore
Issue Area: Environment, Climate, & Fossil Fuels
Cravath is defending PG&E in a lawsuit alleging that PG&E's criminal negligence caused power outages, wildfires, and deaths. Plaintiffs allege that PG&E negligently failed to maintain its power grid.
Cravath is arguing that PG&E should be protected from the suit because its actions were allowed by the California Public Utilities Commission: "Plaintiff’s efforts to argue that PG&E’s PSPS events would not have been necessary in the first place had PG&E done a better job of maintaining its grid do not change the analysis. This argument ignores that the CPUC has authorized all of the utilities in California to engage in power shutoffs when they meet the CPUC’s guidelines—whatever their historical maintenance practices—and that all the major utilities regularly employ PSPS. But, more fundamentally, allegations about what motivated PG&E to institute a PSPS program is not the relevant question here. The relevant question is whether the PSPS events were authorized and regulated by the CPUC."