Fire Victim Trust to Increase Pro Rata Payments to California Fire Survivors to 66%
SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Cathy Yanni, Trustee of the Fire Victim Trust (FVT), announced a pro rata payment increase from 60 percent to 66 percent effective April 25, 2024. This increase was made possible by the Trust’s sale of the remaining 477 million shares of Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) stock awarded to the FVT during the bankruptcy proceedings.
“With $1.2 billion in additional liquidity from our final stock sales and 97% of claims now accepted and final, we are confident we can safely increase the pro rata payment percentage for all fire survivors by six percent,” said Cathy Yanni.
The FVT was created in July 2020 and funded with both cash and shares of stock pursuant to PG&E’s Chapter 11 Plan of Reorganization. At that time, 476,995,175 shares of common stock were transferred to the Trust. This was followed on August 3, 2020, with an additional 748,415 shares. On December 13, 2023, FVT sold the last 67.7 million shares of PG&E stock. Prior to last December’s sale, the FVT had already sold 410 million shares across eight sales — Jan 31, 2022 (40MM shares); April 14, 2022 (60MM shares); Oct 4, 2022 (35MM shares); Oct 27, 2022 (35MM shares); Dec 12, 2022 (60MM shares); January 10, 2023 (60MM shares); April 13, 2023 (60MM shares); July 12, 2023 (60MM shares). Any sale, disposition or other transaction involving the Trust’s shares follow strict guidelines as outlined in filings with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
As of February 29, 2024, the FVT had issued determination notices to 100% of all claimants and paid claimants $11.21 billion.
The Fire Victim Trust:
The Fire Victim Trust evaluates, administers, processes and resolves eligible claims arising from the 2015 Butte Fire, 2017 North Bay Fires, and 2018 Camp Fire. Under the direction of the Trustee and Claims Administrator, the Fire Victim Trust provides an efficient and equitable process to review claims and compensate Fire Victims for both economic and noneconomic damages caused by these fires, including destruction or damage to real estate and personal property, additional living expenses, lost wages, business losses, personal injury or death and related medical expenses, and emotional distress. To date, the Fire Victim Trust has disbursed $11.21 billion to Fire Victims. For more information about the Fire Victim Trust, please visit www.firevictimtrust.com.
Contacts
Steve Burns, Summit Strategy Group
