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Gerald Singleton, SBN 208783

John C. Lemon, SBN 175847

SINGLETON LAW FIRM, APC

450 A Street, 5th Floor

San Diego, CA 92101

Tel: (619) 771-3473

Email: gerald@slffirm.com

john@slffirm.com

Attorneys for SLF Fire Victim Claimants

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION

In re

PG&E CORPORATION,

and

PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC 

COMPANY

Debtors

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Case No. 19-30088 (DM)

Chapter 11

(Lead Case–Jointly Administered)

JOINDER BY THE SINGLETON 

LAW FIRM FIRE VICTIM 

CLAIMANTS IN THE TORT 

CLAIMS COMMITTEE’S MOTION 

FOR RELIEF FROM STAY TO 

PERMIT A JURY TRIAL OF THE 

2017 TUBBS WILDFIRE CLAIMS

(Docket Nos. 2842-2851)

Date: July 24, 2019

Time: 9:30 a.m. (Pacific)

Place: United States Bankruptcy 

Court: Courtroom 17, 16th Floor

 San Francisco, CA 94102

 Hon. Dennis Montali

Affects:

PG&E Corporation

Pacific Gas & Electric Company

Both Debtors

* All papers shall be filed in the Lead 

Case,

 No. 19-30088 (DM).

NOTICE OF JOINDER

//

Case: 19-30088 Doc# 3067 Filed: 07/18/19 Entered: 07/18/19 15:16:09 Page 1 of

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I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

The Singleton Law Firm (SLF), together with several other firms, represents 

approximately 5,200 victims of the fires started by PG&E in 2015 (the Butte Fire), 

2017 (the twenty fires generally referred to as the North Bay and Wind Complex Fires) 

and 2018 (the Camp Fire). (For ease of reference, these claimants are jointly referred 

to as the SLF Claimants.) Approximately 900 of the SLF Claimants are victims of the 

2017 Tubbs Fire, which claimants contend was started by PG&E’s equipment. The 

Tubbs Fire started on October 8, 2017, near Tubbs Lane in Calistoga. It spread to 

Santa Rosa, burning more than 36,000 acres, destroying over 5,600 structures, and 

killing an estimated 25 people. 

After the 2018 Camp Fire, which destroyed nearly 20,000 structures and killed 

at least 85 people, the Tubbs Fire is the most destructive of the twenty (20) major fires 

involved in the PG&E bankruptcy. The Tubbs Fire is also unique in that it is the only 

one of the 20 major fires subject to this bankruptcy which the California Department of 

Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) concluded was not caused by PG&E’s 

equipment.

The SLF Claimants dispute Cal Fire’s finding and believe that they will be able 

to prove that PG&E’s equipment caused the Tubbs Fire. To date, however, PG&E has 

denied liability for the Tubbs Fire and all indications are that PG&E will not agree to 

settle claims arising from the Tubbs Fire for their full value as part of this bankruptcy.1

 

Accordingly, the SLF Claimants believe that the issue of PG&E’s liability for the 

Tubbs Fire (in both inverse condemnation and negligence) must be fully litigated as 

quickly as possible.

//

 

1

 PG&E has not yet put forward its bankruptcy plan, so their exact position on whether the Tubbs 

Fire victims should be paid in full as part of a bankruptcy plan is not clear.

Case: 19-30088 Doc# 3067 Filed: 07/18/19 Entered: 07/18/19 15:16:09 Page 2 of

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II. TCC’S MOTION FOR RELIEF FROM STAY

On July 2, 2019, the Official Committee of Tort Claimants (TCC) filed a motion 

for relief from the automatic stay to permit a state-court jury trial of the Tubbs wildfire 

claims. The gist of that motion is that the Tubbs Fire was responsible for 

approximately one-third of the total wildfire claims in this bankruptcy and that it is the 

only fire for which PG&E is contesting liability. See Doc. 2843 at 8. The TCC also 

asserts that PG&E likely will be insolvent if it is, in fact, liable for the Tubbs fire. See 

id. at 9. The TCC thus concludes that the question of PG&E’s liability for the Tubbs 

fire is a “major gating issue” that must be resolved before the parties can resolve the 

balance of the wildfire claims. See id. at 26.

III. SLF CLAIMANTS’ LIMITED JOINDER

While the SLF Claimants do not agree with every statement of fact in the TCC’s

brief, they do agree that this issue must be resolved promptly and that permitting a 

state-court trial for preference plaintiffs is the best solution for determining PG&E’s 

liability for the Tubbs Fire. To that end, the SLF fire victims join the TCC’s motion

for relief from stay. 

At the same time, the SLF Claimants do not agree that any state court trial 

should be limited to the potential preference plaintiffs set forth in the TCC’s motion. 

While the initial Tubbs Fire trial should include preference plaintiffs, they should not 

be limited to those individuals who are represented by attorneys who have a client on 

the TCC. 

Specifically, the SLF Claimants contend that the following 5 Tubbs Fire victims 

-- Thomas Milton Howard (71), Catherine Maffioli (82), Glenda Samson (71), Barbara 

Spengler (93), and Evelyn Venturi (92) -- should be included in any Tubbs Fire trial 

that takes place in state court. All the above-named claimants are victims of the Tubbs 

fire, over the age of 70, suffer from health issues that make them eligible for 

preference, and have a “substantial interest in the action as a whole” as required by 

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California Code of Civil Procedure § 36(a) and the case law interpreting it. See, e.g., 

Fox v. Superior Court, 21 Cal.App.5th 529, 535 (2018); Koch-Ash v. Superior Court,

180 Cal. App.3d 689, 692 (1986).

Accordingly, the SLF Claimants respectfully request that this Court lift the stay 

to permit a trial on PG&E’s liability for the Tubbs Fire to go forward in state court. 

The SLF Claimants submit that this Court should not make any determinations as to 

which cases should be eligible for this trial, but, rather, that this should be left to the 

determination of the Superior Court after the stay has been lifted. If this Court is going 

to determine which cases are eligible for trial in state court, however, the SLF 

Claimants respectfully submit that the following five individuals should be included:

(1) Thomas Milton Howard (71)

(2) Catherine Maffioli (82)

(3) Glenda Samson (71)

(4) Barbara Spengler (93)

(5) Evelyn Venturi (92)

Respectfully submitted,

Dated: July 18, 2019 SINGLETON LAW FIRM, APC

By: /s Gerald Singleton

Gerald Singleton

Amanda W. LoCurto

Attorneys for the Singleton Law 

Firm Fire Victim Claimants

Case: 19-30088 Doc# 3067 Filed: 07/18/19 Entered: 07/18/19 15:16:09 Page 4 of

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