Five members of a Bakersfield family were awarded $73.6 million Friday, the highest civil jury verdict in Kern County history, according to the attorney who led the family's lawsuit against two local companies and a giant investor-owned utility.
But the total judgment, including previous settlements and pre-judgment interest, equaled more than $114 million, plaintiffs attorney Daniel Rodriguez said at his downtown Bakersfield offices following the rendering of the verdict in Kern County Superior Court.
"Justice was served," Rodriguez said. "All of the companies involved in this case cut corners when it came to safety. They all violated basic safety laws, basic safety rules, basic safety regulations — and because of that, a family paid the price."
In its verdict, the jury also assigned percentages of fault to defendants and former defendants in the trial, Big N Deep Agricultural Development, Ag-Wise Enterprises and PG&E.
The jury found that McFarland-based Big N Deep was responsible for 50 percent of the fault, Pacific Gas and Electric 40 percent and Ag-Wise Enterprises 10 percent.
The civil trial stemmed from a massive explosion and fire that occurred Nov. 13, 2015, when the driver of a bulldozer who was "ripping" farm acreage near Houghton and Wible roads in rural south Bakersfield struck an underground, high-pressure natural gas transmission line owned by PG&E.
The power of the blast sent twin flames shooting high into the air, destroying a new dream home, several vehicles, and forcing Gloria Ruckman to wrap her 17-day-old infant son into a jacket, press him to her chest and flee her new home, followed closely by her mother, the boy's grandmother, Amalia Leal.
The plan was to drive away as fast as possible from the towers of flame roaring behind the house. But the cars in front were already burning, as were the trees and even the grass.
A man driving nearby stopped to whisk the women and the baby into his vehicle and away to relative safety.