Porter Ranch Personal Injury and Property Class Settlements

Following a massive natural gas leak in the Porter Ranch, California area in 2015, more than 36,000 individuals filed claims of personal and property damage. In 2021, BrownGreer was named as Settlement Administrator in the $40 million property settlement program and Claims Processor in the separate $1.8 billion personal injury settlement program.

In the personal injury settlement, we developed a complex, points-based allocation system with base points for residence and employment proximity, or lack thereof, to the gas leak. We also established base point adjustments as a percentage of assigned base points to account for age, health conditions, healthcare treatment, relocation, economic loss, remediation measures performed, bellwether plaintiffs, and discovery pool plaintiffs, and are separately addressing exceptional circumstances.

In accordance with the settlement timelines, BrownGreer established a settlement website for the property class to accept and review claims. Both programs require regular reporting to the Court and Claims Administrator, respectively, and frequent and open communication between parties. We are facilitating this with communication portals for the exchange of information. The portals we design are a hallmark of each program we administer, allowing role-based access to information and providing a secure place within the database to act on a claim or determination.