PG&E's bankruptcy trial opens with attacks on voting process

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — An effort to block Pacific Gas and Electric's path out of bankruptcy kicked off Wednesday's trial on the plan in bankruptcy court as critics of the utility questioned whether the overwhelming vote in favor of the plan by wildfire victims was tainted by conflicts of interest and shoddy counting.

PG&E’s plan won support last week in a landslide, with victims overwhelmingly backing PG&E’s $58 billion proposal to emerge from bankruptcy after a year-and-half.

But a challenge mounted by two critics of the plan launched the first day of a trial before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali, who must approve the plan for PG&E to exit bankruptcy.

Will Abrams, a survivor of a deadly 2017 wildfire blamed on PG&E's rickety electrical grid, and Francis Scarpulla, a lawyer representing a Northern California hospital destroyed in a 2018 fire, launched their attacks while questioning an executive for the firm that oversaw the voting.

They primarily focused on how the firm, Prime Clerk, mailed ballots to 87,000 claimants for losses suffered in wildfires caused by PG&E and whether the utility improperly influenced the process.

Nearly 45,000 ballots submitted by wildfire victims supported PG&E's plan while roughly 6,100 voted to reject it, according to Christina Pullo, a Prime Clerk vice president who testified during the trial conducted online because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Another 8,100 ballots from victims did not express a preference and nearly 2,000 other ballots weren't counted because they were received after a May 15 deadline or were disqualified for other reasons, Pullo testified.

Montali has previously said his decision on whether to approve or reject PG&E's plan will be heavily swayed by the wildfire victims whose...