Xcel faces new Marshall Fire lawsuit

BOULDER COUNTY — Xcel Energy Inc. is facing a new Marshall Fire-related lawsuit from a Boulder County couple who accuse the utility of failing to take proper precautions that could have saved more than 1,000 homes and businesses from burning in the late December 2021 blaze.

John Uridil and Julia Uridil sued Xcel this week in Boulder County District Court, joining a growing list of other plaintiffs who have taken legal action since investigators last month laid part of the blame for the Marshall Fire at the feet of the utility company.

“Electrical infrastructure is dangerous and hazardous, and defendants know these dangers. The transmission and distribution of electricity requires Xcel Energy to exercise an increased level of care to protect the public and the communities where its power lines run,” the Uridil’s complaint said. This extra care is especially important during dangerous weather conditions, such as dry ground and high winds. 

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“Xcel Energy knows what weather conditions and other factors contribute to high fire risk and the steps needed to mitigate the risk of, and prevent, fire from igniting. Yet Xcel failed to take appropriate actions to prevent the Marshall Fire,” the lawsuit said.

Boulder County Sheriff’s Office investigators determined that the Marshall Fire, which killed two people, had two root causes: high winds that uncovered a smoldering, days-old fire at the residence of the Twelve Tribes religious group, members of which live at a compound at 5325 Eldorado Springs Drive in Boulder County, and a malfunctioning Xcel powerline that became “unmoored” during the windy day on Dec. 30, 2021.

Residents of the Twelve Tribes home burned material in a yard on Dec. 24, a week prior to the start of the Marshall fire, buried it and assumed that the flames were extinguished, investigators said. 

Twelve Tribes is an international organization with several thousand members that has been accused by past members of labor exploitation, child abuse and racist teachings.

Soon after the high winds on Dec. 30, 2021, transformed the smoldering material into a blaze at Eldorado Springs Drive, “hot particles discharged from an Xcel Energy powerline” several thousand feet away from the initial fire and started a new blaze in a nearby grassy area,” Boulder County Sheriff Curtis Johnson said last month. Investigators found that this line malfunction was likely not related to the Eldorado Springs Drive residential fire; however, the two blazes quickly converged and together started the Marshall Fire.

Officials do not plan to file charges against any person or company.

Xcel, which declined to comment on the recent lawsuit, told BizWest last month that it disagrees with the conclusion of the Marshall Fire investigation.

The decision not to implement certain specific safeguards in windy and dry conditions, the plaintiffs said, represents “an inexcusable failure to act that directly resulted in widespread destruction,” the Uridil’s lawsuit said.

The complaint does not specify whether their home was destroyed, but does say that damages include “property damage, loss of cherished possessions, economic losses, business losses, emotional distress, annoyance, disturbance, inconvenience, mental anguish, loss of quiet enjoyment of their property, and costs related to evacuation and/or relocation.”

The suit, among other allegations, accuses Xcel of neglect, trespass, public and private nuisance, willful and wanton conduct.

A class-action lawsuit against Xcel was filed last year by Eldorado Liquor owners George and Lisa Kupfnercl, who claimed that the utility “substantially caused or contributed to the cause, origin and continuation” of the Marshall Fire. 

In a separate action last month, a group of more than two dozen Boulder County homeowners, renters and business operators have joined in a lawsuit that accuses the utility of negligence. 

“Because of Xcel’s corporate policy of putting profits over public safety,” the complaint said, “plaintiffs and others like them have had their homes, businesses, ranches and farms damaged and destroyed, lost income, money and business, suffered significant expenses and emotional trauma, and will spend years trying to rebuild their lives and livelihoods.”

The lawsuit is John Uridil, Julia Uridil v. Xcel Energy Inc., case number 2023CV30486, filed July 10 in Boulder County District Court