A European journalist newly posted as a correspondent to the United States used the word “relentless” to describe his first impressions of his new home.
He meant relentless in the pace of life in New York, where he was based, and relentless in the drive of industrialists and entrepreneurs and developers. Were he still working in America, he would doubtless have been using the same word to describe the two major forest fires that are currently raging at either end of the state of California. Just as the flames are relentlessly consuming hundreds of hectares of land and threatening thousands of homes, so the efforts of the fire departments are showing no let up. And this being California, whose $3 trillion gross state product makes it the equivalent of the world’s fifth largest economy, the resources and technology being deployed to try to bring the infernos under control are state-of-the-art.
Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of brave firefighters, consistently high winds have continued to fan the blazes. They continue to be relentless. However, there is also something else unrelenting which is emerging as a result of this natural disaster - the US legal system.
Individuals and indeed regulators are already mounting actions in the courts to sue local power companies. Their chief complaint is that these utilities have been cutting the electricity to almost two and a half million homes and businesses. One of the power companies involved has protested in its defense that it simply had to cut the electricity supply, because of the danger that a broken power line could start further fires. Indeed, it is believed that the original blaze in Sonoma County in the north of the state was caused by just such a power line rupture. So far 180,000 people, including millionaire celebrities, have been forced to evacuate their homes. An extra concern for law officers working alongside fire fighters is to how protect those properties from the attentions of looters.
This being litigious America, it is more than likely that those who have lost their homes and businesses or have been forced to quit them will also be seeking compensation and damages from the power companies on the grounds that their broken cables triggered the disaster. These electricity utilities are very obviously caught between a rock and a hard place. They seek to limit further fires and protect large areas as yet unaffected by cutting the power to them, but that triggers lawsuits. Had they not taken the action they have and fresh blazes had broken out, they would have been sued for neglect.
While it is unlikely that all of these suits will succeed, it is certain that the power companies have more important matters to attend to than seeking to resist the attempt to have them fined and forced to pay out to claimants. Moreover, if there are awards against them, they are likely to have to call upon their insurers to pay out some or all of the money. What this will mean is that the next time that power companies seek to buy cover, the insurance industry will impose hefty premiums. This in turn will put pressure on the companies to raise their prices. As so often with the American legal system, the tail will be wagging the dog and doing so relentlessly.
