Smoke filled the skies on Labor Day weekend 2020 from wildfires that wineries say adversely affected their grapes, essentially making them useless for making wine. (Staff file photo)

Several Newberg-area wineries are joining an attempt to hold PacifiCorp responsible for its part in the Labor Day 2020 wildfires and the damage that struck the wine industry as a result.

In a lawsuit filed in late October in Multnomah County Circuit Court, Newberg wineries Flanerie Vineyard and Kings Grade Vineyards, as well as Carlton winery Flaneur Wines, joined two wineries in Salem and one in Philomath in taking PacifiCorp to task for its actions in 2020.

The lawsuit is one of many directed at PacifiCorp since a collection of fires struck the region, destroying thousands of acres of timberland, some towns and taking the lives of several individuals.

In general, the lawsuits allege that the Portland-based company, despite advance knowledge of weather patterns and high winds creating a perfect scenario for ignition, refused to cut power to transmission lines that then ignited fires in forests and among structures over thousands of acres in the state.

The fires took flame along the flanks of the Cascade Mountains from Mill City in the north to Eagle Point in the south, as well as near the towns of Lincoln City and Otis on the west.

Smoke emanating from the wildfires, the lawsuits argue, adversely affected wine grapes downwind from the blazes, effectively making them useless for making wine.

The most recent lawsuit was filed in Multnomah County by attorneys for the same law firm, Baker Hostetler, that is representing 91 wineries in four counties and is responsible for several lawsuits against the utility company.

Robert Julian, an attorney representing the wineries, told KOIN 6 News — a news partner of the Newberg Graphic — that the Labor Day fires wrought particular devastation on small wineries: “They live pretty much year to year and losing the 2020 vintage took a big chunk out of their 2021-22 profits.”

PacifiCorp officials have said they are attempting to create a fire protection plan in response to the disastrous 2020 fires but must do so with an eye on staying in business so they can pay the settlements already ordered in the lawsuits and those that are sure to come.

If the cases progress to jury trials, they could begin with one lawsuit in Yamhill County in April, then include subsequent trials slated for later that year.

Pacific Power announced in June a $178 million settlement with more than 400 plaintiffs in a separate lawsuit filed after the 2020 wildfires. The victims were primarily owners of properties devastated by the Echo Mountain Complex Fire on the Oregon coast near Lincoln City and the Santiam Fire near Detroit.

“PacifiCorp has a robust wildfire mitigation plan that has been in place since 2019,” the company said in a release. “This plan was approved by the Oregon Public Utility Commission. PacifiCorp has added in-house meteorologists, installed hundreds of weather stations that monitor fire conditions in real time, and continues to improve its ability to provide safe, reliable power to Oregon customers.”

However, the company said, the lawsuits filed against it are threatening its ability to operate in the future.

“The company’s ability to provide these essential services is being threatened by spurious lawsuits like these and excessive wildfire damages pursued by out-of-state plaintiff attorneys who have a substantial financial stake in these outcomes,” the release said.

The law firm Baker Hostetler is holding town halls Nov. 19 and Dec. 10 in McMinnville to allow any other wineries affected by the wildfires to join lawsuits against PacifiCorp.

PacifiCorp’s response to early lawsuit: We are not responsible

In early October, PacifiCorp and subsidiary Pacific Power answered a complaint filed by a collection of more than 40 northwest Oregon wineries, including several in the Newberg area, that said the company’s negligence led to spoiling the 2020 vintage.

The public utility’s response to the claims against it: We are not responsible.

The electrical utility’s attorneys denied “any and all allegations in the complaint” and “specifically denies that plaintiffs have been injured or damaged in the (sum) alleged, or in any other sum, or at all, by reason of any carelessness, negligence, act or omission of PacifiCorp.”

Two of the plaintiffs named in the lawsuit are Dundee-area wineries Domaine Serene and Lange Estate Winery, which are seeking more than $11.74 million and $4.87 million, respectively, in damages. The bulk of the wineries named in the lawsuit are located in the Willamette Valley. They claimed in the lawsuit, which demands a jury trial, that exposure to smoke and soot from the fires destroyed a promising grape crop and the resulting vintage.

The lawsuit seeks more than $102.59 million in damages for the 41 wineries, decrying PacifiCorp for negligence, gross negligence, inverse condemnation (when a government-regulated utility damages or decreases the value of private property without first obtaining ownership) and “spoilation of evidence.” The spoilation of evidence claims stems from allegations by the plaintiffs that PacifiCorp deliberately destroyed evidence gathered during an in-house investigation by the company.