Following the wildfires of recent years, many states west of the Mississippi River have considered (and multiple states have now adopted) legislation to limit the liability of utilities for bodily injury and property damage caused by wildfires that might have been ignited by utility-owned equipment. Most commonly, legislation requires (or permits) utilities to prepare and update wildfire mitigation plans that are elaborate and subject to some degree of state oversight. When such plans have been approved by a state department or agency and a utility is in substantial compliance with an approved plan, the extent of the liability shields varies. Some state frameworks include caps on awards, bar punitive or exemplary damage awards, and/or establish specific statute of limitation periods ranging from one to four years. But in states with limitations on utilities’ liability for wildfire damages, the net result for property insurers (and those that have purchased subrogation claims from
