Danko Meredith

PG&E Bankruptcy: Understanding the Wildfire Survivors’ Motion for “Relief from Stay”

By Mike Danko on July 2, 2019

What’s today’s “motion for relief from stay” all about? The dispute about PG&E’s total liabilities. When it filed bankruptcy, PG&E said its liabilities as a result of the 2017 and 2018 wildfires totaled at least $30 billion. Yet, PG&E now proposes to resolve all wildfire claims by funding a trust for wildfire claimants of substantially less — about $14 billion. What explains the difference? Well, after the bankruptcy, Cal Fire determined that PG&E’s facilities did…

California Personal Injury Law Case Notes

Deadline for PG&E Fire Survivors

By Mike Danko on June 26, 2019

PG&E now accepts responsibility for the Camp Fire. PG&E says that it wants to pay claimants for what they’ve been through, and that it wants to set aside $14 billion for that purpose. But here’s the catch: in order to be paid, victims must file papers with the bankruptcy court by October 21. If you don’t get a claim on file by October 21, you can’t participate in the payout. Period. The judge realized that…

Aviation Law Monitor

Evidence from Bell Helicopter Case Yields Clue in Unsolved Murder Investigation; Exposes Aviation Industry Influence

By Mike Danko on June 15, 2019

The FAA is too cozy with the manufacturers it is supposed to regulate. I’ve been writing about that since 2009. The press is just now becoming interested, asking how the FAA ever allowed the 737 Max to be certified. What does that have to do with a helicopter case and a murder investigation? In 2001, an Assistant US Attorney, Tom Wales, was shot and killed in his Seattle home. Wales had prosecuted a…

California Personal Injury Law Case Notes

PG&E Chief Can’t Explain Why PG&E Paid $2.5 million Bonus to Fired CEO But Stiffed Butte Victims

By Mike Danko on May 8, 2019

PG&E Chief Financial Officer Jason Wells appeared in Bankruptcy Court to answer questions under oath. It was his second time. The first time, I asked him about the bonus PG&E paid to CEO Geisha Williams as she was shown the door. I couldn’t understand why, in the days leading to the bankruptcy, PG&E found $2.5 million in cash to stuff into her pocket, but couldn’t come up with the money PG&E agreed to pay …

California Personal Injury Law Case Notes

PG&E Raises Rates On Victims

By Mike Danko on April 26, 2019

Having paid to shareholders money it was supposed to use on wildfire remediation and prevention, PG&E now says it can’t get the work done unless it raises rates. The CPUC is going to let them.…

Aviation Law Monitor

Ethiopian Flight 302 and Lion Air Flight 610: Keeping Lawsuits Against Boeing in the US

By Mike Danko on April 3, 2019

Families of both Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 and Lion Air Flight 610 have sued Boeing in Cook County, Illinois. To win, the families need prove only that a defect in the design of the Boeing 737 Max contributed to the crashes. But first they have to convince the judges that their cases should be heard in this country and not in either Indonesia or Ethiopia, where the crashes occurred. Of course, if the Cook County…

California Personal Injury Law Case Notes

Judge Orders Convicted Felon PG&E To Comply With Tree Trimming Laws

By Mike Danko on April 2, 2019

PG&E argued it couldn’t comply with the laws because there were just too many trees, too close to its wires. The judge replied, “That’s a problem of your own making.” …

California Personal Injury Law Case Notes

PG&E’s New CEO William Johnson Is All About Profits

By Mike Danko on April 2, 2019

Scott Deveau and Mark Chediak of Bloomberg report that PG&E is likely to sign Bill Johnson as its new CEO. Bill Johnson was most recently CEO of the Tennessee Valley Authority, the large southeastern public utility. Critics are glad Johnson is now gone from the TVA because, they say, he consistently favored corporate interests over the public interest. They see Johnson’s departure as an opportunity to replace him with someone who will put the “public” …

Aviation Law Monitor

Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302: Can Families Hold the FAA Liable For Certifying the Boeing 737 Max 800 As Safe When It Wasn’t?

By Mike Danko on March 25, 2019

Normally, the FAA cannot be sued for doing a bad job certifying an aircraft as safe. But in the case of the 737 Max, things might be different. As a general rule, the FAA cannot be sued as long as, in certifying the aircraft as safe, it was exercising its “discretion.” The United States Supreme Court discussed the “discretionary function defense” in a case called United States v. Varig Airlines. In that…

Aviation Law Monitor

FAA’s Approval of the 737 Max Questioned – But Why Now?

By Mike Danko on March 19, 2019

Both the Department of Justice and Transportation Department’s inspector general are investigating the FAA’s approval of the Boeing 737 Max and, in particular, the aircraft’s anti-stall system known as MCAS. The FAA is supposed to ensure that Boeing aircraft are safe. Investigators want to know: Are the FAA and Boeing too cozy? Is the FAA’s oversight is too lax? Is it true that the FAA didn’t actually certify the Max’s anti-stall system as safe but…

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PG&E Bankruptcy: Understanding the Wildfire Survivors’ Motion for “Relief from Stay”

Deadline for PG&E Fire Survivors

Evidence from Bell Helicopter Case Yields Clue in Unsolved Murder Investigation; Exposes Aviation Industry Influence

PG&E Chief Can’t Explain Why PG&E Paid $2.5 million Bonus to Fired CEO But Stiffed Butte Victims

PG&E Raises Rates On Victims

Ethiopian Flight 302 and Lion Air Flight 610: Keeping Lawsuits Against Boeing in the US

Judge Orders Convicted Felon PG&E To Comply With Tree Trimming Laws

PG&E’s New CEO William Johnson Is All About Profits

Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302: Can Families Hold the FAA Liable For Certifying the Boeing 737 Max 800 As Safe When It Wasn’t?

FAA’s Approval of the 737 Max Questioned – But Why Now?

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