Investing.com– The California unit of Edison International (NYSE: ) has been hit with a series of lawsuits accusing the company of starting one of the nation’s worst wildfires, which ravaged Los Angeles County last week.
A group of homeowners, businesses and others facing property damage filed several lawsuits against Edison in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday, alleging that Southern California Edison’s power lines caused the fire due to lack of maintenance.
Authorities are still investigating the cause of the fire, which broke out amid low humidity, a lack of rain and dry weather conditions across California.
Edison CEO Pedro Pizarro said in an interview with Bloomberg that the company has yet to receive any lawsuits and has not discovered problems with power lines near the start of the fire.
Fires in LA have killed at least two dozen people since last week, while another twenty are missing. The fires destroyed countless homes and private property.
The consumer lawsuits are another major hurdle for Edison, whose shares have fallen 28% so far in January amid speculation that the company’s infrastructure caused some of the wildfires.
