Ore. Appeals Panel Reverses Verdict For Wildfire Class Due To Erroneous Instruction

( April 9, 2026, 2:24 PM EDT) -- SALEM, Ore. — An Oregon trial court made a prejudicial error when it instructed a jury in Phase I of a bifurcated trial seeking damages from a power company accused of negligence that caused multiple Oregon wildfires in September 2020 “that it could ‘assume that the evidence at the trial applies to all class members,’” an Oregon appellate panel ruled April 8, reversing the verdicts of millions of dollars for economic and noneconomic damages....