A deadline for victims to file claims is less than three weeks away. About 30,000 have done so with the help of lawyers, along with 1,500 acting on their own. But the deadline could pass without claims from as many as 70,000 others eligible for compensation. The filing deadline, part of the bankruptcy case of Pacific Gas & Electric, California’s biggest utility, is the victims’ chance to piece together at least parts of their shattered lives. The stakes are high: If people like Mr. Kane and Mr. Boyer do not file claims, investors in the utility — whose equipment has been blamed for several major fires — will retain that much more.

Source: New York Times October 06, 2019 18:00 UTC