Overview
Ahead of the Next Fire Season
Wildfire Litigation Updates is an ad hoc editorial series produced by Holdsworth & Inkwell that tracks wildfire-related litigation and federal compensation framework developments across the Western United States. The publication publishes when significant developments warrant coverage rather than on a fixed cycle, reflecting the event-driven nature of wildfire litigation.
Editorial Scope
Topical coverage includes federal wildfire compensation frameworks (the Cerro Grande Fire Assistance Act of 2000, the Hermit's Peak/Calf Canyon Fire Assistance Act of 2022, and future federal compensation legislation), state utility wildfire defense frameworks across the Western states, insurance carrier coordination and subrogation in wildfire-driven multi-county litigation, and the developing federal and state regulatory frameworks that shape utility liability for wildfire events.
Format and Cadence
Issues publish when developments warrant. Wildfire litigation operates on cycles tied to fire seasons, federal compensation legislation, major state regulatory decisions, and significant settlement or trial outcomes. The publication's ad hoc cadence reflects this rhythm rather than imposing a fixed editorial calendar.
Issues
Coverage as it Happened
Below are the individual installments of this series, each one marking a specific development in wildfire litigation and the regulatory landscape around it. Read the latest entry for what just changed, or move back through earlier ones to see how the record has built over time.
Utility Wildfire Subrogation in the Western United States: Multi-State Defense Frameworks
Survey of utility wildfire subrogation defense frameworks across California, Colorado, Arizona, and Washington, with common operational themes and state-specific architectural variations.
Federal Wildfire Compensation Frameworks: The Cerro Grande to Hermit's Peak Lineage
Federal wildfire compensation legislation from the Cerro Grande Act of 2000 to the Hermit's Peak/Calf Canyon Act of 2022, with FEMA administration and implications for future federal frameworks.
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Track Wildfire Litigation as It Moves
Wildfire litigation does not run on a publication calendar. It moves when a federal compensation framework is amended, when a state recalibrates how utility liability attaches, or when carriers align their subrogation position across a multi-county loss. Reading about a shift once it has already shaped a client's matter is a different exercise than reading it while the matter is still being built. This series follows the federal compensation frameworks, from the Cerro Grande Fire Assistance Act forward, the state utility wildfire defense standards developing across the Western states, and the carrier coordination that follows a major loss. It is written for the parties actually exposed to that record: utilities and energy companies, landowners pursuing recovery, insurance carriers, and the counsel advising any of them.
Editors
The Judgment Behind the Coverage
Each issue of Wildfire Litigation Updates is shaped by the editors below, who track developments in wildfire litigation and federal compensation law and anticipate where the next significant shift will come from. Their judgment sets what the series covers and when.
Practice Areas
Where the Coverage Concentrates
This series tracks developments as they emerge, in the areas listed below. Coverage may hold to one area for a run of issues, then widen as frameworks intersect. Each link leads to the practice area itself, where the firm's work in that space continues beyond any single issue.
Practice Area
Wildfire Litigation
Recovery for property owners, businesses, and insurance carriers in wildfire matters involving utility negligence and federal lands.
Practice Area
Insurance Recovery
Recovery for businesses and policyholders facing denied claims, coverage disputes, and bad-faith conduct by insurance carriers.
Sectors
Relevance by Industry
This series returns most often to a handful of industries, identified here from an industry angle rather than an area of law. The sectors below carry that focus forward, each opening onto the firm's broader work in that space so a reader can judge relevance from more than one direction.
From coverage to counsel
Have a Wildfire Matter?
Wildfire liability shifts with each fire season, each new statute, each carrier's next move. Our Wildfire Litigation team tracks those shifts as they happen. If a matter is taking shape around one, that is where to start the conversation.