[californiadisasters] P.G.& E Is All Heart

PG&E says it won't blame San Bruno victims

Jaxon Van Derbeken, San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer

San Francisco Chronicle July 12, 2011 04:00 AM Copyright San Francisco Chronicle. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. moved Tuesday to assure victims of the San Bruno natural gas pipeline explosion that it did not intend to argue in court that they were to blame for losses they suffered in the disaster.

The company amended a filing it made last week in a case involving more than 100 lawsuits seeking damages as a result of the Sept. 9 blast, which killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes. In a statement, the company said it wanted to be "crystal clear that no one at PG&E would suggest that the plaintiffs or residents of San Bruno impacted by this accident are somehow at fault for the tragedy."

The original filing in San Mateo County Superior Court listed a litany of potential defenses to the lawsuits. PG&E suggested that a third party may have damaged its "state of the art" pipeline, and it asserted both comparative and contributory negligence - legal standards that allow civil defendants to claim that victims' conduct contributed to their injuries and should offset damages.

In its amended filing Tuesday, the company said it "does not blame the plaintiffs and residents who have been affected by this terrible accident."

The new filing also said that money PG&E paid to victims after the disaster was "given with no strings attached, and PG&E will not be seeking reimbursement."

PG&E offered payments of as much as $50,000 to residents in the days after the blast, depending on damage to their homes.

An attorney for 40 residents who have sued PG&E, however, pointed out that the company's amended filing still includes the original language that could hold victims responsible for damages, as well as language that earlier payments to victims could bar them from making legal claims.

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Read entire article here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/07/12/BAKI1K9OJR.DTL#ixzz1RxgPnfhQ

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