Years of Waiting: Wildfire victims fight to get the money owed from PG&E

CHICO, Calif. — Eighty-five lives were lost and billions of dollars were left in damages.

Approaching the four-year anniversary of the Camp Fire, which decimated the town of Paradise, many locals are still looking for answers and the money promised to them by PG&E.

The Fire Victims Trust (FVT) was created in 2020 to ensure PG&E paid victims in towns like Paradise and other areas destroyed by years of wildfires, but after years of bureaucracy and protest, some fire victims across Northern California have yet to be paid.

Richard Mosell has been a member of the Cal State Gleaners in Paradise for a decade. The organization is a disaster response program providing food and shelter to those in need.

"Since the 2018 [Camp] fire in Paradise, we have been to every fire in Northern California," Mosell said, driving his Gleaners truck.

When the Gleaner’s-only facility was decimated by the Camp Fire, Mosell took the reins as CEO moving operations to Oroville.

Years after the fire, Mosell still hasn’t been given a monetary determination for payment by the FVT.

"I mortgaged my ranch and I spent, like, $200,000," Mosell lamented. "We’re still waiting for that."

He said it seems he's been strung along by the FVT. "They say, then it’s going to be next month when you’re going to get relief. I say, 'ok, I can do that.' And then, next month comes in and it’s gonna be two months. And then, two months comes; it’s gonna be another month. The Fire Victims Trust isn’t a donor, they are just based on inventory and all that. Our warehouse in Paradise was the same size [as the warehouse in Oroville] and everything burned. How do you put a price on it?"

Will Abrams, a victim of the 2017 Tubbs fire in Sonoma County, has taken the FVT to court dozens of times. He says his goal, ultimately, is to get payments to survivors faster and to ensure all costs to operate the trust are charged appropriately.

“Here, victims are waiting year, after year, after year," Abrams said.

KRCR's Anwar Stetson took concerns to Steve Burns, the managing director at Summit—a public relations firm contracted by the FVT.

On the subject of why people have been waiting so long for payments, Burns said it was a "fair question that deserves an answer."

"As far as we are aware," Burns said in a virtual interview Wednesday, "there has never been a trust this complicated in the history of bankruptcy proceedings in the history of the United States."

The trust has been criticized for its lack of operational transparency, “excessive” payroll and startup expenses and lagging payments that claimants say are frequently pushed back while under the leadership of retired Justice John Trotter, who resigned his position at the end of June after documented spats with Butte County officials.

Wildfire victims also own a quarter of PG&E stock as a part of the Trust. However, a year ago, major hedge funds dumped billions in PG&E stock after the company filed for bankruptcy.

Burns insists the FVT is heading in a positive, and more transparent, direction with new trustee Cathy Yanni. However, questions still loom about how much money the trust is spending on overhead and lobbyists,

Just last year, an NPR investigation found the trust racked up $51 million in overhead costs in 2020, while only $7 million went to victims.

In 2021, those overhead costs ballooned to over $93 million, but trust documents say 80% of that money was spent on processing and administering claims.

"When the trust was created in the summer of 2020, it had to be built from scratch," Burns said.

"So, by definition, money had to be spent to create the trust in order for the trust, literally, to process the first determination notice. So, yes, people pointed out that money went to administrative costs before money came to victims. I would suggest that logically that makes sense...you’re building something that never existed before."

Yanni toured Paradise in August and joined group discussions with town, county and state leaders to address concerns with the trust that the previous trustee did not.

In September, former PG&E executives settled a lawsuit by the trust for $117 million based on the company’s negligence related to wildfire mitigation. Lead legal counsel for the FVT, Frank Pitre, was quoted in an LA times article saying the funds will go to organizations like FEMA and other state agencies that housed fire victims as a part of the utilities’ bankruptcy plan.

Abrams, however, is still skeptical about transparency.

"I’m going to keep pushing for more discovery and more disclosures until they are forthcoming and certainly I will continue down that road until those answers come out."

Just last month, however, PG&E sold 70 million shares of stock in two separate sales. Cathy Yanni said the stock will add nearly $1 billion in cash into the fund.

California legislators are also speaking out.

CA District 2 Senator Mike McGuire, representing the North Coast, says he’s been working with the trust to get payments out.

"If individuals have not received a claim or a portion of their claim, they should contact our office or contact [Senator Brian Dahle's] office. We had an individual that had not heard back from the claim administrator's department and connected them with the claim administrator, and they received an automatic proportional payment."McGuire said in an interview with KRCR on Wednesday.

"But, what I will tell you is, administrators are now picking up the pace. It’s been dreadfully slow; it’s been incredibly upsetting; it’s been unacceptable. There has been an enormous amount of pressure put on by the state legislature, as well as the state attorney general, to pick up the pace. They finally are and fire survivors should start seeing those dollars move."

"What the message from Cathy Yanni, the trustee, and everybody who works for the trust is very simple...this is what they wake up and do every single day." Burns finished.

"They are dedicated full-time to getting victims fire survivors their money that is due to them for these terrible series of events," Burns finished. "So hang in there. We’re on your side and working as quickly and as hard as possible to get the money that’s owed to you into your hands."

Yanni says that the FVT will be able to award victims45% of their claims without selling additional stock.

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