Can You Sue for Damages From a Wildfire?

It is a safe bet to state that during the spring and summer months, a wildfire will happen in Montana nearly every day. The Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) keeps track of the current fires raging across the state. As of the writing of this blog, there have been 787 fires so far in 2024, 64 of which are currently burning. If you were to check back when you read this, those numbers are sure to have gone up.

For anyone who finds their homes or businesses in the wake of these disasters, you might want to know if you can sue for damages from a wildfire. That depends on your losses and the particular fire.

Assigning Blame for a Wildfire

A wildfire can consume thousands of acres before it is brought under control. However, all that fire always has an origin point. Determining a fire’s origin will be crucial to any lawsuit in order to recover damages. In other words, you need somebody to sue.

The DNRC has data about all causes of all U.S. Wildfires. Here’s how it breaks down:

• 50% caused by humans
• 28% undetermined
• 14% unreported
• 9% natural causes

That indicates that a human element could cause the wildfire that caused your damage. That doesn’t automatically mean that the authorities will find the responsible person. If investigators establish that an individual intentionally started the fire, they will most likely prosecute that person on criminal charges like arson ones. However, regardless of whether prosecutors file criminal charges against the person who set the blaze or not, you may also sue that individual in civil court to recover your damages.

You could also sue a utility company that might have been responsible for the wildfires. That was the case in a 2017 wildfire in Southern California, where, according to NBC 4 Los Angeles, Southern California Edison agreed to pay an $80 million settlement. The Montana legislature recognizes the issue and finds that “a utility that caused a wildfire is potentially subject to a common law lawsuit alleging negligence. Essentially, the suit might be brought by a person harmed by a fire that was caused by the utility.”

Additionally, the cause of a fire might be traced back to a negligent business or the manufacturer of a defective product. For instance, a defective catalytic converter on a car might start a brush fire that spreads to a wildfire, as was reported by WGN9 News. Plausibly, you could name any individual or entity who was negligent as a party to your lawsuit.

Elements Needed for a Wildfire Lawsuit

Filing a lawsuit to collect damages as the result of a wildfire is the same as filing a personal injury lawsuit in the aftermath of a lawsuit. You have to establish the four core elements of negligence:

Duty of Care

A duty of care refers to the responsibility of a person or entity not to cause a fire.

Breach of Duty of Care

A utility company has a duty of care to maintain their transformers to prevent them from sending out sparks that start a fire. If brush isn’t cleared around the transformer or there isn’t proper covering, that company may have breached their duty of care.

Another example is with a campfire. The person who built that fire has a duty of care to maintain it and fully extinguish that fire. If embers from that campfire spread, they have breached their duty.

Causation

You have to establish that the fire, which was started by the breach of the duty of care, caused the actual damages.

Damages

The final element of negligence in these cases is damages. You must be able to document how you sustained damages, whether injuries or property loss, for example, that you can attribute to the wildfire.

Wildfire Insurance Issues

If you are concerned about a wildfire damaging your home, you need to conduct a thorough insurance review. Most homeowners’ insurance policies do not cover wildfire damage, only accidental house fires. That means you won’t be able to file a claim or sue for damages if you don’t have a separate wildfire policy.

On the other hand, if you do have a wildfire insurance policy, then your insurance company should cover the following losses and damages:

• Home or business location
• Personal belongings
• Cars
• Pets
• Livestock
• Land

You can also sue for wrongful death, emotional distress, lost wages, or business and evacuation costs.

Legal Filing Options

Suing for damages from a wildfire can mean naming an individual or company as a defendant in your civil suit. It might also involve being part of a class action lawsuit or going after your insurance company if they don’t provide the benefits from your policy. Any one of those filings can be challenging to handle, which is why you need to speak with Western Justice Associates, PLLC.

We have decades of combined experience helping Montana residents find fair remedies for their losses. We can assess your wildfire damage situation and advise you on the best options for filing a lawsuit. That begins with a free consultation. Let’s have that talk today.