Callahan & Blaine

A Los Angeles Times investigation has found that PG&E has more “high consequence” gas line leaks in populated areas compared to other utilities. The report was in response to the San Bruno, California gas pipeline explosion in September that killed 8 people and caused an estimated $65 million in property losses. (The eighth death occurred at the end of September when the victim died in the hospital due to injuries sustained during the explosion).

Reporters discovered that PG&E’s leak rate in highly populated areas is six times the national average for comparable utility companies. Nationwide, gas pipeline leaks in populated areas have actually decreased more than 30% in recent years, but PG&E’s rate has increased around 40% in the same time period.

Federal Safety data show that PG&E has had 38 leaks in 1,000 miles of pipeline situated in densely populated areas since 2004. For a point of comparison, that is three times the number of leaks reported by Southern California Gas Co., California’s other major natural gas supplier.

PG&E defends its safety record, claiming that the federal data is not accurate enough to compare one utility to another. One spokesman for the California Public Utilities Commission says the data are “deeply disturbing” if accurate. The investigation into the cause of the San Bruno explosion is ongoing, and it will be months before the cause is determined.

Callahan & Blaine, California’s Premier Litigation Firm, is one of the leading catastrophic injury firms in the state of California. In fact, in the last five years alone our lawyers have obtained over $1.2 billion in verdicts and settlements, including a $7 million settlement for a cyclist who was left with a traumatic brain injury after being struck by a newspaper delivery truck, and a $7.25 million settlement in a case when a man was run over trying to board a city bus in Orange County, California.

Our success in litigating and negotiating personal injury cases comes from our uncommon approach; we handle each personal injury case as though it were a complex business litigation case, attacking it from every angle possible. While our firm is located in Orange County, California, we handle serious personal injury, wrongful death and product liability cases nationwide.

If you or someone you know has suffered a catastrophic injury or died as the result of a public utility accident, please contact our California law firm for expert legal counsel.