ELR Citation: 42 ELR 20146
No(s). 10-55371 (9th Cir. Jun 29, 2012)

The Ninth Circuit upheld a jury's award of $28.8 million in intangible environmental damages for harm caused by a wildfire negligently caused by a construction company that burned roughly 18,000 acres of the Angeles National Forest in Southern California. The company did not contest its liability or the jury’s award of roughly $7.6 million in fire suppression, emergency mitigation, and resource protection costs. It challenged only the jury’s additional award of $28.8 million in intangible environmental damages.
But under California law, the government could recover damages for all of the harm caused by the fire, including intangible harm to the environment. Here, the government
provided sufficient evidence for the jury to determine the amount of environmental damages, and the resulting award was not grossly excessive.