一名法官裁定，南加州爱迪生公司无法逃避一场审判，该审判涉及2025年伊顿大火诉讼中的核心主张，这场大火是洛杉矶地区历史上破坏性最大的火灾。
A judge ruled that Southern California Edison cannot escape a trial over a central claim in lawsuits over 2025’s Eaton Fire, the most destructive blaze in the Los Angeles area’s history.
洛杉矶县高等法院法官劳拉·西格尔驳回了爱迪生国际旗下子公司的一项请求，该公司请求法院裁定：在2025年1月帕萨迪纳附近的这场大火中遭受数十亿美元损失的财产所有人，根据一项加州法律无法寻求救济。该法律规定，当公用事业公司的设备引发火灾时，自动承担责任。
Superior Court Judge Laura Seigle rejected a request by the Edison International unit to rule that property owners who suffered billions of dollars in losses in the January 2025 fire near Pasadena have no recourse under a California law that holds utilities automatically liable when their equipment starts a blaze.
西格尔的裁决意味着，爱迪生公司与火灾受害者的律师将在定于1月下旬举行的初步审判中，就所谓的“反向征用”展开交锋。这是一项州法律原则，即使公司没有疏忽行为，也可要求公用事业公司对火灾造成的所有财产损失负责。
Seigle’s ruling means that Edison and fire victims’ lawyers will spar at an initial trial set for late January over so-called inverse condemnation, a state legal doctrine that can put utilities on the hook for all property damages from fires even if the company didn’t act negligently.
此前，已支付赔偿索赔的保险公司律师曾试图在无需审判的情况下让该问题按有利于他们的方式解决，以便从爱迪生公司追回赔付款，但西格尔驳回了他们的请求。
Attorneys for the insurance companies that have paid out damage claims previously tried to get the issue decided in their favor without a trial to recoup their payouts from Edison, but Seigle rejected their request.
南加州爱迪生公司发言人大卫·艾森豪尔表示，该公用事业公司不同意法院的最新裁决。
David Eisenhauer, a spokesperson for SCE, said the utility disagrees with the court’s latest ruling.
艾森豪尔在一份声明中说：“我们将继续走司法程序，并鼓励伊顿大火直接受影响者通过野火恢复赔偿计划提交索赔，而不是寻求漫长且结果不确定的诉讼。”
“We will continue through the court process and encourage those directly impacted by the Eaton Fire to file claims through the Wildfire Recovery Compensation Program rather than pursuing lengthy and uncertain litigation,” Eisenhauer said in a statement.
洛杉矶县消防局8月初的一份报告结论认定，伊顿大火是由一座干燥山坡上一座停用塔架上的电弧事件引起的。这场大火造成19人死亡，摧毁或损坏了9000多所房屋和企业，烧毁了1.4万英亩土地。
A report by the Los Angeles County Fire Department in early August concluded the Eaton Fire was caused by electrical arcing events that took place on an out-of-service tower on a dry hillside. The fire killed 19 people, destroyed or damaged more than 9,000 homes and businesses and burned 14,000 acres.
爱迪生公司首席执行官佩德罗·皮萨罗7月下旬对投资者表示，除了该公司的设备外，“没有出现其他可行的替代解释”能说明野火是如何爆发的。
Edison Chief Executive Officer Pedro Pizarro told investors in late July that “no other viable alternatives have appeared” aside from the company’s equipment that would explain how the wildfire erupted.
起诉埃森迪的律师称，1月7日附近一条正在运行的输电线路发生电力波动，产生了一个磁场，短暂地重新激活了那条休眠的电缆，引发了火花，从而点燃了火灾。
Lawyers suing Edison allege that a Jan. 7 power surge on a nearby, active line created a magnetic field that briefly reenergized the dormant cable, setting off the sparks that ignited the blaze.
西屋电气在法庭文件中辩称，据称引发爱顿火灾的输电塔自1971年以来一直闲置，不再符合加州公用事业严格责任规则所要求的公共基础设施类型。
SCE has argued in court filings that the transmission tower where the Eaton Fire allegedly ignited had been idle for so long, since 1971, that it no longer qualifies as the kind of public infrastructure that triggers California’s strict liability rule for utilities.
在最新裁决中，西格尔对埃森迪试图通过引用过去的判例来为其论点提供支撑的做法提出了质疑。
In her latest ruling, Seigle cast doubt on Edison’s attempts to shore up its arguments by citing past court cases.
“埃森迪没有引用任何法律依据，说明原本为服务公众而建的输电线路，仅仅因为当时处于闲置状态且未传输电力，就不属于公共改善设施，”她写道。
Edison “did not cite any legal authority that a transmission line originally built to serve the public cannot be a public improvement because it was idle and not transmitting electricity at the time of the harm,” she wrote.