PG&E Class Action Lawsuit: $100M Settlement, Claims, and Deadlines

The main PG&E class action lawsuit open to claimants right now is a $100 million securities fraud settlement, In re PG&E Corporation Securities Litigation, covering investors who bought PG&E stock or certain notes between April 29, 2015, and November 15, 2018. The settlement received preliminary approval on February 26, 2026, and claims must be filed by July 6, 2026. A final approval hearing is set for August 25, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.¹

Who Is Eligible to File a Claim

The settlement class includes all persons and entities that purchased or acquired PG&E Corporation securities during the class period of April 29, 2015 through November 15, 2018. That includes common stock and purchasers of certain notes offered between March 2016 and April 2018.²

If you held PG&E securities during that window, you are presumptively in the class and do not need to do anything to be bound by the settlement. To actually receive money, you have to file a claim.

How to File a Claim and What You Could Receive

Claims go to the court-appointed claims administrator, A.B. Data, Ltd. You can file online at the settlement website or by mail to P.O. Box 173069, Milwaukee, WI 53217. Questions can be directed to the administrator at (866) 302-5617.³

Claim forms must be submitted online or postmarked by July 6, 2026.²

The $100 million fund is divided into two pools: at least 83.85% is reserved for equity-related claims and up to 16.15% for debt-related claims. Each claimant’s share is calculated under a “Recognized Loss” formula based on when the securities were bought and sold, published artificial-inflation tables, and a first-in-first-out matching method. If your calculated share works out to less than $10, no payment is made. Claimants who previously filed proofs of claim in PG&E’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy receive a 25% increase to their recognized loss amount.⁴

Because payouts are pro rata, the dollar amount per claimant depends on how many valid claims come in and the size of each claimant’s recognized loss. There is no fixed per-person figure.

What the Lawsuit Alleges

The complaint, filed June 12, 2018, accuses PG&E Corporation, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, and certain officers, directors, and underwriters of making false and misleading statements to investors about the utility’s wildfire-safety practices and regulatory compliance in the years leading up to the October 2017 North Bay fires and the November 2018 Camp Fire.⁵

Specifically, plaintiffs allege that between April 29, 2015, and November 15, 2018, PG&E executives made 19 false or misleading statements about wildfire-safety policies and filed prospectuses that omitted material information on vegetation management, equipment inspections, and regulatory compliance.⁶ The claims are brought under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Sections 11 and 15 of the Securities Act of 1933.⁷

Named individual defendants include former CEO and Chairman Anthony F. Earley Jr., former CEO Geisha J. Williams, former CFO Jason P. Wells, former Senior Vice President Christopher P. Johns, former VP and Controller Dinyar B. Mistry, and former VP and Treasurer David S. Thomason. The complaint alleges that Earley and Williams, as senior executives who signed PG&E’s SEC filings, knew or recklessly disregarded that the company’s electrical networks were not maintained in compliance with state safety requirements.⁸

Lead plaintiff is the Public Employees Retirement Association of New Mexico, joined by York County on behalf of the County of York Retirement Fund, the City of Warren Police and Fire Retirement System, and the Defined Benefit Plan of the Mid-Jersey Trucking Industry and Teamsters Local 701 Pension and Annuity Fund. Labaton Keller Sucharow LLP is court-appointed lead counsel.⁹

Why the Case Took So Long

The lawsuit sat frozen for years because of PG&E’s bankruptcy. In April 2021, the district court signaled it would stay the case due to overlap with the bankruptcy proceedings, and in September 2022 it formally entered a stay. Lead counsel appealed, arguing that an indefinite delay risked lost evidence and faded memories.

On May 3, 2024, the Ninth Circuit vacated the stay as to the individual defendants and sent the case back to the trial court. The panel found that the district court had abused its discretion by failing to weigh the harm to investors from a stay that experts estimated could last four to seven years. Invoking the Moses H. Cone doctrine, the Ninth Circuit held that such a lengthy, open-ended stay effectively placed the plaintiffs “out of court” and was reviewable on appeal.⁶ The parties reached the $100 million settlement on December 31, 2025.¹

Key Deadlines

Claim form deadline: July 6, 2026 (online or postmarked)
Exclusion request deadline: July 6, 2026
Objection deadline: July 6, 2026
Final settlement hearing: August 25, 2026, before Judge Edward J. Davila

If you do nothing, you remain in the class and are bound by the settlement, but you will not receive a payment without filing a claim. Class members who do not exclude themselves give up the right to bring separate claims against the defendants for the conduct at issue, including any claims in PG&E’s Chapter 11 cases.²

If You’re a Wildfire Victim, Not an Investor

The $100 million class action is a securities case for investors. It is not a claims process for people who lost homes or family members in PG&E-caused wildfires. Those claims are handled by the separate Fire Victim Trust, created when PG&E emerged from bankruptcy on July 1, 2020, and funded with $13.5 billion through a mix of cash and company stock.¹⁰

The Fire Victim Trust is now winding down and is not accepting new claimants. As of April 30, 2026, it had awarded $19.57 billion and paid $13.71 billion to claimants. Of 71,787 individual claimants who filed, 66,530 were found eligible, and 66,125 of those have received payment. The trust is paying at a 70% pro rata rate, meaning victims receive 70 cents on the dollar of their approved claim. Trustee Cathy Yanni has said the trust expects one final pro rata distribution of “no more than one percent” after it receives funds from a settlement with Davey Tree, reached December 31, 2025 and expected in spring or summer 2026. Under the bankruptcy plan, the trust has no legal ability to collect additional funds from PG&E beyond what was already established.¹¹

Other PG&E Class Actions Worth Knowing About

Power Shutoff Class Action (Gantner)

In 2019, St. Helena resident Anthony Gantner filed a class action seeking up to $2.5 billion in damages for residents and businesses who lost power during PG&E’s Public Safety Power Shutoffs, alleging the shutoffs were a consequence of decades of negligent grid maintenance. The California Supreme Court unanimously ruled for PG&E on November 20, 2023, holding that the lawsuit was barred because it would interfere with the California Public Utilities Commission’s authority over utility shutoff programs. Associate Justice Goodwin Liu wrote that the suit would “hinder” or “frustrate” the PUC’s “carefully designed implementation calculus.” Separately, the CPUC fined PG&E $106 million for failures during the 2019 shutoffs, including inaccurate outage maps and failure to notify roughly 50,000 customers in advance.¹² There is no class recovery available from this case.

Solar Panel Financing Class Action (Beatty v. Sungage)

A newer class action, Beatty v. Sungage Financial, LLC et al. (Case No. 1:25-cv-00645), was filed on May 30, 2025, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California. It names PG&E Corporation, Pacific Gas and Electric, Sungage Financial, and NBT Bank, and alleges a bait-and-switch solar panel financing scheme: homeowners were promised zero-interest, easily transferable loans, but the loan amounts allegedly included undisclosed finance charges and the loans were effectively non-transferable because new buyers had to qualify at far higher interest rates. The claims include violations of the RICO Act, the Truth in Lending Act, and the Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.¹³ Sungage Financial was terminated as a defendant in January 2026, and in late May 2026 the parties filed a notice of settlement, so the case appears headed toward resolution without trial. Terms have not yet been made public.¹⁴

1
Labaton Keller Sucharow. In Re PG&E Corporation Securities Litigation
2
PG&E Corporation Securities Litigation. In Re PG&E Corporation Securities Litigation Settlement
3
Morningstar. Labaton Keller Sucharow LLP Announces Notice of Pendency of Class Action
4
PG&E Corporation Securities Litigation. Proposed Plan of Allocation
5
CourtListener. In Re PG&E Corporation Securities Litigation
6
FindLaw. In Re PG&E Corporation Securities Litigation
7
Labaton Keller Sucharow. Labaton Keller Sucharow Reaches $100 Million Settlement
8
Courthouse News Service. Weston v. PG&E Corporation et al. Complaint
9
PR Newswire. Notice of Pendency of Class Action
10
Utility Dive. PG&E Exits Bankruptcy
11
Fire Victim Trust. Letter From the Trustee
12
Courthouse News Service. PG&E Ducks Negligence Suit Over Wildfire Prevention Shutoffs
13
ClassAction.org. PG&E, Sungage, Others Facing Class Action Over Alleged Solar Panel Financing Scheme
14
CourtListener. Beatty v. Sungage Financial, LLC