federal and state agency claims. At the closing of the PG&E bankruptcy trial in July 2020, Judge Dennis Montali (the judge and only judge presiding over the PG&E bankruptcy proceeding) proclaimed and I paraphrase and quote him: This PG&E $13.5 billion dollar wildfire victim settlement will allow for victims of the wildfires to be compensated for their losses quickly and fairly. That finally sounded good to the 68,870 families who lost homes and personal property in 2015, 2017, and 2018 Northern California wildfires for which PG&E was accused of and admitted to in court their negligence for our losses and was now officially named responsible for our losses. 1 Sansome Street, Ste 2830 Primarily, those debts and liabilities relate to wildfire claims. The IRS letter echoed articles you have Thank you @GavinNewsom for the appointment of #NancyWard. Still today, tens of thousands of these wildfire victims have received no settlement payments whatsoever. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Montali, a 23-year veteran of the U.S. Bankruptcy system (now 81 years of age) was chosen by the system to preside over the largest bankruptcy in U.S. legal history which concluded in July 2020. PARADISE, Calif. - There is a new But KQEDs review of documents identified more than half a dozen law firms and financial institutions that have profited from the Fire Victim Trust. Instead he chose to take a huge loss for us. Today @GavinNewsom announced Nancy Ward as the next Director of Cal OES. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) A trust approved by a federal judge to help compensate victims of deadly California wildfires sparked by Pacific Gas & Electric equipment paid (1), The insurance companies and city and county governments also were paid in full over nine months ago for claims they paid to victims (subrogation reimbursements $11 billion and government claims of $2 billion, respectively), and the victims lawyers started reaping their full fees and costs as victims settlement determinations started trickling in nine months ago. With $2.82 billion in additional liquidity from our recent stock sales, we were confident we could safely increase the pro rata payment percentage for all Fire Victims, said Cathy Yanni. They should not have to pay taxes on these payouts. That price created a shortfall of approximately $2.4 billion less than expected, and it has lingered between $10 and $12 and closed at $9.78 as of Friday, June 17, 2022.. Broadly, the process involves the following steps: With support from the Governors office and the California legislature, PG&E is expected to emerge from bankruptcy under a reorganization plan in secure (or investable) financial condition. (2022, May 25). Read the press release here. - The company filed for bankruptcy in January 2019 following a series of wildfires in 2015, 2017 and 2018. I have heard firsthand the concerns survivors have faced when navigating the ambiguous tax code. He leaves his leadership at the Trust at the end of June 2022. The number of claimants, variety of claims, quantity of claims, and size of the multi-billion dollar fund make this one of the largest and most complex mass tort settlements in California history. the press release here. PG&E was forced into bankruptcy after its equipment sparked the Camp Fire that killed at least 85 people and nearly wiped out the Northern California town of Paradise. 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. Cook, 70, and his family are scraping by, living in a rented home 100 miles (161 kilometers) away in Davis, where he shares a three-bedroom rental with his 68-year-old wife, Leslie, their four adult children and three grandchildren. "All legislation that is not passed and signed does lapse as of January 2nd so we would put that bill right out on January 3rd as soon as the swearing in is over with and get going again because our constituents have waited long enough," said LaMalfa. Michael Internicola and his family lost everything in the 2017 Tubbs Fire. Legislation could make PG&E settlement money for CA wildfire victims tax-free from the federal government, but the bill is stuck in Congress. He approved the deal crafted largely favoring the interests of PG&E, Wall Street Hedge Fund investors that owned approximately 10% of PG&Es stock, and a small group of victims law firms that represented large groups of wildfire victims. After this sale, we now own about 21%. Governor Newsom. We are making every effort to pay as much as we can, as quickly as we can.. He noted that the bankruptcy court created two pots of money, one for the insurance companies and another for fire victims, including federal and state agency claimants. The trust owns about 24% of the companys Newsom put his imprimatur on this deal and soon thereafter gave PG&E a safety regulation pass so they could exit the bankruptcy process and continue to operate with business as usual, that is, with little ongoing responsibility for making major wildfire mitigation efforts to their electric service lines and a backstop of California tax payers funds to payoff their next victims at 100% of their losses. On November 14, 2022, the Trust sent letters in support of H.R. He said the trust had begun to make partial payments to about 9,500 of the 67,170 victims. This was followed on August 3, 2020, with an additional 748,415 shares. In that rubble Internicola says he found the only item that survived, a ring his father gave him. Trotter also said that the trust is hoping to maximize their assets by getting a loan from the state of California or from some other instrument that will allow the trust to complete and increase their prorated statements without having to sell more shares in a down market. Insurance Journal. ABC7News. Huge welcome back! 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. (1) Moreover, Gov. 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. Rather, each wildfire claimant (or unsecured creditor) must file a separate claim in the bankruptcy court to safeguard their right to compensation. A Cascade of Outrage Follows Investigation Into PG&E Fire Victim Trust Expenses. Build the strongest argument relying on authoritative content, attorney-editor expertise, and industry defining technology. Many, many thanks., The disaster recovery resources you provided helped many individuals and families., Certificate of Appreciation in recognition of your outstanding contributions to the Third Supervisorial District and the County of San Diego., (United Policyholders) provided helpful insights into the state of the current insurance market for earthquake, fire and flood coverage, and the critical rile insurance plays in the ability of our communities recover from such catastrophic events. We speak to claimants every day and know how hard this has been for everyone. (16) Nonetheless, over 35% of wildfire victims are still waiting years later for their settlements and the vast majority have asked for reconsiderations, challenging the Trusts settlements as unfair and their claims as woefully under paid. Sound rich to you? Once PG&E filed for bankruptcy, however, the civil lawsuits were automatically stayed (or paused). Director Ward is one of the nations foremost emergency managers with broad experience working at @DHSgov @fema @FEMARegion9 as well as Cal OES. As of January 12, 2023, the FVT had issued determination notices to 91% of all claimants and paid claimants over $5.93 billion. And their fees are paid directly from PGE Fire Victim Trust funds designated primarily for the victims loss compensation from the PG&E settlement. Capradio. endstream
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<. 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. This time period may be shorter than the statute of limitations that might otherwise apply in the civil court. This is different from a class action lawsuit. We are sympathetic to the fact that the complicated claims evaluation and payout process required by both California law and bankruptcy law can be hard for anyone to understand, said Yanni. 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And one-half (i.e., $6.75 billion) of the victims settlement languishes in PGEs underperforming stock.(1,2,3,4,5,6,13). In his letter to victims, Trotter recounted the creation of the trust and its recent history. (2022, May 6). "You know if the state can get it done, why can't the federal government," said LaMalfa. If you have a claim for fire-related damages, you are considered an unsecured creditor of PG&E for purposes of the bankruptcy process. 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 Fires and the 2018 Camp Fire. Governor, we are one of 68,870 families and businesses (250,000 Californians) waiting for full relief for our PGE-caused losses. Our experienced mass tort attorneys provide consultations at no cost and with no obligation. Additional rounds of pro rata payments will follow until the fund is depleted. https://twitter.com/Cal_OES/status/1609310956794019840. 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. 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. It was done on our dime before being done by the attorneys before the trust was established., We recognize that because of PG&Es bankruptcy, the fire victims have been waiting a long time for compensation, Trotter said in a statement. Trotters response to the Butte County Board of Supervisors letter was to leave a voicemail criticizing the board. Congressman LaMalfa says the IRS took 5 months to get back to lawmakers about how fire victims who received PG&E settlement money should file their taxes so they wouldn't overpay or underpay and be facing penalties or fines. The news that PG&E agreed to a $13.5 billion fire settlement with lawyers for victims means that plaintiffs are a step closer to getting compensated. Apparently, no one can stop Trustee Trotter from selling victims shares at a loss. Prior to this months sales, the FVT had sold 230 million shares across five sales Jan 31, 2022 (40 MM shares); April 14 (60 MM shares); Oct 4 (35 MM shares); Oct 27 (35 MM shares); Dec 12 (60 MM shares). He was born in Chico and attended Butte and Chico State. The Bank of Japan (BOJ) made no adjustments to its yield-curve control (YCC) policy that keeps interest rates ultra-low on Wednesday. PG&E wildfire victims will soon be able to get a larger share of what is owed to them, thanks to a recent influx of $1 billion into the victim compensation trust fund, according to trust officials. PG&E is in the process of paying $13.5 billion to survivors of the deadly Butte, North Bay, and Camp fires; legislation will protect these funds from federal taxes. Review our firm's. He said his rent is triple what he paid for his mortgage in Paradise. It certainly appears that the lawyers, either working for the Trust or victims, were and are being paid well and in full for their services. Read They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias. PGE stock is currently trading around $12 per share (currently a $1 billion loss to the victims' PGE shares) and it must trade at about $14.50-plus per share for the victims' stock value to equal $6.75 billion. (8), In fact, the funds earmarked for wildfire disaster victims have first, quickly and more than fairly gone to the unwieldy and ineffectively operated PG&E Fire Victim Trust bureaucracy, (with excessive fees paid to the Trust managers and consultants); to the insurance companies that received full reimbursement of their homeowner insurance subrogation claim payments, and; complete payouts and large stock bonuses to the Hedge Funds for accepting the bad (half-stock) deal they all agreed to offer to the wildfire victims. These preliminary payments, which have totaled $79 million to date, will continue to be made on an ongoing 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. The legislation would exempt wildfire payouts from income taxes and would allow attorney fees and court costs to be deducted from taxes, right now they are not. 16. Gov. 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 In addition to ensuring survivors would not be taxed on trust payments, the new law includes a provision exempting attorneys' fees from taxation to ensure that recipients of PG&E funds do not pay taxes on lawyers they did not hire. 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. (12,19). Analysts on average predict PG&E will make over $9 billion of EBITDA in 2023, compared with less than $6 billion in 2018. the press release, the Trustee posted responses to fire survivors' questions submitted during a recent meeting hosted by Sonoma County Supervisors Susan Gorin and James Gore. opt-out claim, and issuance 90% of all Determination Notices. Thats why theyre called trusts., Visalia Times-Delta | Tulare Advance Register, Just hours before the Idaho murders, another grisly scene unfolded outside Bryan Kohberger's window, Polar bear kills woman, boy in remote Alaska village, Hawaii fisherman overboard, missing after hooking large ahi, Reality TV star Julie Chrisley reassigned from Florida prison to federal medical center, The rich and powerful flocked to Davos via private jet to discuss climate change, study finds, How a comedian and Air Force spouse are helping feed military families, How to make cheeseburger dumplings with the Dumpling Mafia, JetBlue plane bumps into another aircraft in JFK Airport's gate area. PG&E Bankruptcy Yields $700 Million Fee Bonanza. However, we encourage all potential claimants to discuss their case with an attorney in a timely manner to begin the process. A vote for Yes or No was essentially all the victims received no substantial input. Wednesday January 18, 2023 PG&E filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy on January 29, 2019. Fire Victim Trust to Increase Pro Rata Payments to California Fire Survivors From 45% to 60% Based on Recent Stock Sales. hbbd```b``3@$SXd:L|:TJ D2E,yd2c4(SGX&>`YZL L`]df|0 `
He will be replaced by Cathy Yanni, who has been with the trust since it was created two years ago as the claims administrator. The new payout, effective Feb. 15, will allow victims to gain 45% of claim value, instead of the current 30%. 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 Worse, the risk from fires has only been partially addressed. At this time, the court has not yet issued a claims Bar Date (the deadline for submitting claims), nor has the court approved an official claim form for wildfire losses. A. A. In November 2020, the FVT decided to begin providing claimants who had submitted the required Claims Questionnaires with preliminary payments of up to $25,000. Paradise mayor Steve Crowder welcomed the news of Trotters retirement. The victims stake has fallen in value to around $4 billion. On November 15, 2022, the Trustee posted responses to fire survivors' questions submitted during a recent meeting hosted by Sonoma County Supervisors Susan Gorin and James Gore. Trustee appointed 11 fire victims to serve on an official committee of tort claimants. He pointed out that more than 85% of the victims voted for the plan, and on July 1, 2020, when the utility emerged from bankruptcy, paid $6.75 billion in cash and delivered 478 million shares of PG&E stock to the trust. I hope 2023 will be a good year for fire survivors and am delighted to share that the Fire Victim Trust announced today that it will be increasing pro rata payments from 45 percent to 60 percent effective January 31, 2023. Give the people you love peace of mind by helping them be financially resilient and prepared.ThisGive Peace of Mind Gift Catalogis full of free tips to help spark important discussions and actions around disaster preparedness. (2022, May 25). Read the letters. (2022, May 6). On June 28th, the Commissioner of the IRS responded to a request by Congressman Mike Thompson and Congressman Doug LaMalfa requesting guidance on the taxability of the settlement funds received from the Fire Victims Trust (FVT). (2021, October 11). Representatives for the Fire Victim Trust declined to be interviewed. An annual report filed in federal bankruptcy court last week by its trustee, John Trotter, reported $38. 7 million spent on financial professionals, claims administrators, consultants and other operating expenses between July 1 and the end of 2020. Officials for the trust declined to provide KQED with a list of companies it is working with and what it has paid them. 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