Four New Lawsuits Filed Against PG&E for Pipeline Explosion

Cleo Sandoval had just stepped into the backyard of his Earl Avenue home on Sept. 9 when he was startled by what he and his neighbors would later learn to be the neighborhood’s and city’s most horrifying disaster: a gas pipeline explosion.

Suffering from reflex sympathetic dystrophy, a nerve disease that makes movement painful and difficult, Sandoval struggled to escape the ensuing fire and tried to walk up the hill in a desperate attempt to flee from the flames. But he had to stop every few minutes because of the pain.

Meanwhile, his wife Donna and their daughter were at a parent-teacher night at the daughter’s school in San Francisco when Donna’s phone began ringing repeatedly.

One of the voicemail messages on her phone was from Cleo.

“Honey, there has been an accident and explosion of some kind and I am…” Cleo said before the phone cut out.

The Sandovals are among four families that filed the latest lawsuits against PG&E in connection with the Sept. 9 disaster. The lawsuits were filed Friday in San Mateo County Superior Court.

According to the Sandovals’ lawsuit, the family has been deeply affected by the disaster after Donna and her daughter spent two hours on a desperate search for Cleo, not knowing if he was alive.

They finally found him on the corner of Berkshire Drive and Skyline Boulevard, barely able to walk or breathe. When they were allowed to enter back into the neighborhood, the Sandovals found their home damaged and their family car destroyed.

The other families suing Pacific Gas & Electric Co. include the Levine family, whose Concord Way home wad severely damaged in the fire, the Rogge family, whose Earl Avenue home was also damaged, and the Tovar family, whose Claremont Drive home was completely destroyed.

All of the families are seeking unspecified damages and are charging PG&E with negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, strict liability, private and public nuisance, and trespassing.

The Tovars are also charging PG&E with battery and inverse condemnation, claiming they haven’t been properly compensated for the damage to their home.

The recent complaints now join a that involve more than 150 people who were affected by the fire, which overall left eight people dead and 38 homes destroyed.

Last month, a San Mateo County judge agreed to so that one judge could hear all the cases—a decision PG&E sought to make the process quicker and more efficient.

Meanwhile, PG&E continues to say they are working to resolve affected residents’ concerns and are committed to helping rebuild the Crestmoor neighborhood.