david berry is one of hundreds who filed lawsuits against pg&e after he lost his santa rosa home in the north bay wildfires last october. dealing with the aftermath has been hard on his family. >> it's heartbreaking because they're afraid. and they're afraid of fire and they're afraid of night, and as much as you try to calm them, they still have the image of what we escaped etched into their minds. >> reporter: attorneys for pg&e and lawyers for hundreds of fire victims met in san francisco superior court friday for a hearing on the utility's liability for the fires. under the california constitution, property owners can hold public utilities responsible for damages under a term called inverse condemnation. pg&e's argument, they say they're a private company and are exempt from inverse condemnation and should be allowed to recover any damages they are orded to pay through rate hikes from their customers. >> here in the courtroom and in sacramento, they're employing a lot of scare tactics basically telling people that they're too negligent to fail, and that's just unacceptable. >> repor

david berry is one of hundreds who filed lawsuits against pg&e after he lost his santa rosa home in thelast october. dealing with the aftermath has been hard on his family. >> it's heartbreaking because they're afraid. and they're afraid of fire and they're afraid of night, and as much as you try to calm them, they still have the image of what we escaped etched into their minds. >> reporter: attorneys for pg&e and lawyers for hundreds of fire victims met in san francisco superior court friday for a hearing on the utility's liability for the fires. under the california constitution, property owners can hold public utilities responsible for damages under a term called inverse condemnation. pg&e's argument, they say they're a private company and are exempt from inverse condemnation and should be allowed to recover any damages they are ordered to pay through rate hikes from their customers. >> here in the courtroom and in sacramento, they're employing a lot of scare tactics basically telling people that they're too negligent to fail, and that's just unacceptable. >> reporter: while presidin