Introduction
PG&E's Chapter 11 case is one of the largest utility restructurings in U.S. history. It involved wildfire liabilities, regulatory fights, a contested plan, and a creditor body that included tens of thousands of fire victims. Its docket is a working reference for restructuring professionals.
Restructuring professionals still struggle to pull a complete picture from one place. Two debtors, a lead case number, a claims agent portal, and parallel regulatory and appellate matters all sit in different systems.
This guide covers the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California, the case identifiers, the record types you'll find, and how to research them.
Docket information is historical. Verify current status, orders, and amendments through PACER or the official case-administration site before relying on any document.
Key Takeaways
- Lead case 19-30088 (PG&E Corporation) and 19-30089 (Pacific Gas and Electric Company) were jointly administered.
- The docket holds far more than the plan: motions, claims notices, committee papers, and adversary matters.
- Strong research pairs document review with timeline, party, and outcome analysis.
- Concluded-case records still support precedent, recovery, and benchmarking work.
PG&E's Bankruptcy Case Structure and Docket Identifiers
PG&E Corporation and Pacific Gas and Electric Company filed Chapter 11 petitions on January 29, 2019, according to PG&E's SEC filing. The cases sit in the San Francisco Division of the Northern District of California, and Judge Dennis Montali presided.
Case numbers and joint administration
The official case-administration table lists:
- Case 19-30088: PG&E Corporation, the lead case (also shown as 19-30088-DM)
- Case 19-30089: Pacific Gas and Electric Company
The court identifies the cases as jointly administered. In practice, that means related cases share procedural administration for convenience, while the debtors stay separate legal entities with their own claims, schedules, and legal questions. Confirm the joint-administration order itself on the docket; its docket number and date are not readily available in secondary public summaries.
Two entities, not one
PG&E Corporation is the holding company. Pacific Gas and Electric Company is its wholly owned operating utility. The distinction matters whenever you review claims, assets, liabilities, securities, contracts, or plan treatment. A filing may apply to one debtor and not the other.
Related proceedings
Not everything lives in the main docket. Related matters include:
- Adversary proceeding No. 3:19-ap-3003
- Ninth Circuit appeals Nos. 19-71615, 19-16833, and 19-16834
- District court case 19-cv-5257-JD, where wildfire claims estimation was withdrawn from the Bankruptcy Court
- CPUC and FERC proceedings, which have their own dockets
What the PG&E Bankruptcy Dockets Cover
Expect these categories in the record:
- Voluntary petitions and first-day motions
- Cash management and DIP financing orders
- Schedules of assets and liabilities, and statements of financial affairs
- Claims and bar-date notices
- Committee matters
- Disclosure statements, plans, and confirmation papers
- Post-confirmation orders and trust matters
Following a dispute
A contested matter starts with a motion. Objections, replies, hearing notices, minute entries, and memoranda follow, and a final order closes the loop. Read them in that sequence to see how a request became a decision.
Claims records
The July 1, 2019 order set key bar dates, per a PG&E 10-Q:
- General bar date: October 21, 2019 at 5:00 p.m. Pacific
- Section 503(b)(9) claims: April 22, 2019
- Individual wildfire claims: extended to December 31, 2019
The docket also holds proofs of claim, objections, settlement materials, and distribution records. None of this is advice on an individual claim.
Regulatory threads
Regulatory issues surface throughout the record:
- CPUC approval
- FERC dispute over wholesale power contracts
- Wildfire liabilities and ratepayer concerns
- California Wildfire Fund created under AB 1054
What to log
For each document, record:
- Docket number and filing date
- Title and filing party
- Relief requested and ruling
- Place in the timeline
How to Find and Search the PG&E Dockets
Follow a repeatable workflow:
- Start at the court's PG&E page on the Northern District of California site, which links to the case-administration portal and PACER directions.
- Search by case number (19-30088 or 19-30089) and confirm the debtor entity.
- Filter by date or document type.
- Download the full filing. A docket description can be incomplete.
- Read the sequence: motion, objections, replies, hearing record, then order.
The claims agent portal, run by Prime Clerk and now Kroll Restructuring Administration, offers a second route to the same filings.
Useful search terms
Try "plan of reorganization," "confirmation," "wildfire," "bar date," "proof of claim," "committee," "settlement," "adversary," "FERC," and "CPUC." Combine them with a date range.
PACER costs and limits
PACER charges $0.10 per page, capped at $3 per document, and waives fees when quarterly charges are $30 or less. An unlinked docket entry may require ordering the document from the clerk. N.D. Cal. also restricts certain bankruptcy filings, so a public docket entry doesn't prove the image is publicly available.
Handling messy records
Track each filing by docket number and version. The plan went through Dkt. 6320, 7521, and 8048, and only the last was confirmed. Watch for superseded orders, sealed exhibits, attachments, duplicate entries, OCR errors, and references pointing to related proceedings.
Beyond individual documents
Reading filings one at a time gets slow. BankruptcyData helps professionals who need a unified view of court activity, stakeholder developments, restructuring timelines, and historical outcomes, with docket monitoring and Court Documents tools for reviewing and comparing filings.
Key Filings and Milestones to Review
| Date | Milestone |
|---|---|
| Jan. 29, 2019 | Petitions filed |
| Mar. 27, 2019 | $5.5 billion DIP facility fully approved |
| Oct. 21, 2019 | General claims bar date |
| Dec. 19, 2019 | Tort Claimants Committee RSA approved |
| Mar. 16, May 22, June 19, 2020 | Plan and amendments (Dkts. 6320, 7521, 8048) |
| May 28, 2020 | CPUC Decision 20-05-053 |
| June 20, 2020 | Confirmation Order (Dkt. 8053) |
| July 1, 2020 | Effective date |
| Oct. 7, 2020 | Ninth Circuit dismisses FERC appeals as moot |
Start with the petitions and first-day orders
These establish the debtors' legal identity, requested relief, financing, and immediate protections. Interim first-day approval came January 31, 2019.
Creditors, committees, and plan development
Review schedules, bar-date orders, and committee documents to map the creditor universe. The Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors and the Official Committee of Tort Claimants both appear in the record. Appointment dates for both committees are hard to pin down from secondary materials, so confirm them on the docket.
Then trace the plan through its three versions, plus objections, settlements, voting materials, and confirmation hearings held between May 27 and June 19, 2020. Exclusivity was contested too: on August 16, 2019, Judge Montali left debtor exclusivity in place.
Regulatory crossover
The CPUC approved the plan with conditions on May 28, 2020. The FERC dispute asked whether FERC or the bankruptcy court could address wholesale power contracts proposed for rejection. The Ninth Circuit dismissed the appeals as moot because the plan required assuming, not rejecting, the contracts. It did not reach the merits.
Wildfire claims
Keep three things apart: allegations, proposed settlements, and court-approved outcomes. Per PG&E's SEC reporting, the plan describes a $13.5 billion Fire Victim Trust liability, funded with $5.4 billion cash, $1.35 billion deferred cash, and 477.0 million PG&E Corporation shares. It also reports $11.0 billion for the Subrogation Wildfire Trust and $1.0 billion for settling public entities.
Confirmation and after
The Confirmation Order came June 20, 2020, and the plan took effect July 1, 2020. After that, look for effective-date notices, distributions, claim reconciliation, appeals, and later litigation. The court's case page may not show a clear closure status, so check the live docket.
How Professionals Can Use the Docket Record
- Law firms and advisors: chronology supports case strategy, precedent research, client updates, and objection analysis.
- Distressed-debt investors: filings inform capital-structure changes, claim treatment, plan economics, and settlement risk. Independent financial and legal analysis is still required.
- Credit and trade-risk teams: petitions, claims deadlines, contract motions, and payment orders sharpen counterparty exposure reviews.
- Academics and data vendors: extract structured fields (entities, dates, parties, document types, rulings, outcomes) and keep links to source documents.
A single filing rarely answers a research question. Connect docket events with SEC disclosures, regulatory records, and final outcomes. BankruptcyData's historical case research and data feeds cover 600k+ records across 45+ years, which supports benchmarking PG&E against other cases.
Research Cautions and Verification Steps
- Verify every date, case number, debtor name, dollar amount, and outcome against a primary court filing. Don't repeat secondary-source figures unchecked.
- A docket entry may summarize a document incompletely. Amendments, sealed exhibits, later orders, or appeals can change its meaning.
- Treat Chapter 11 as reorganization, not liquidation. U.S. Courts explains a debtor usually proposes a plan to keep the business alive, without service termination, automatic payment of every debt, or guaranteed recovery.
- Docket research doesn't replace qualified bankruptcy, securities, or regulatory counsel, especially on claim filing, contract rights, releases, or plan treatment.
- Record your research date and label each item: petition, motion, proposed order, entered order, settlement, plan, or later outcome.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happened to PG&E?
PG&E Corporation and its utility filed Chapter 11 on January 29, 2019, driven by wildfire liabilities. The court confirmed the plan June 20, 2020, and it took effect July 1, 2020. Later developments sit outside the bankruptcy docket.
What are the PG&E bankruptcy case numbers?
The lead case is 19-30088 (PG&E Corporation), and 19-30089 is Pacific Gas and Electric Company. Verify debtor assignments and joint administration on the official docket.
Where can I find PG&E bankruptcy docket documents?
Start with the Northern District of California's PG&E case page, then use PACER or the Kroll claims portal. Confirm each document by case number and filing date.
What is the difference between PG&E Corporation and Pacific Gas and Electric Company?
They're separate legal entities, the holding company and its operating utility. Claims, assets, liabilities, and plan treatment can differ, so verify the entity on every filing.
What types of documents are in a bankruptcy docket?
Petitions, motions, objections, orders, plans, claims materials, committee filings, settlements, confirmation records, and adversary-proceeding documents.
Are the dockets still useful if the main case has concluded?
Yes. They support precedent, claims and recovery research, regulatory analysis, and benchmarking. Check for later developments first.
