Retired winemaker Ed Snyder lost his vineyard, his home, and his entire income stream in the same fire. He's still waiting. He told reporters the settlement made him "uncomfortable," and that the fire left him "penniless at 65."
This is not taxpayer money — it's a private legal settlement, and that distinction matters. Newsom's stake in PlumpJack sits in a blind trust, which is standard practice for governors and presidents. But a blind trust doesn't remove the trustee's fiduciary duty to protect the asset, and PlumpJack isn't exactly hidden — everyone doing business with it knows whose name is on it. The same logic would apply to anyone in that position, of any party: if a sitting governor's own company was a party to a lawsuit in the state he governs, does it get treated like every other party at the table?
The irony that's hard to miss: at the same time PlumpJack was settling, Newsom was publicly pushing legislation aimed at making utility companies pay more for wildfire damages — positioning himself as the one fighting for fire victims' compensation. His own company just became the first (and so far only) fire claimant in a 30-company lawsuit to actually get paid.
California Underground airs every Tuesday at 8PM PST on YouTube.
🔔 Subscribe and hit the bell so you don't miss next week's show.
📌 Sources:
SF Chronicle / wine-industry coverage of the Pickett Fire civil litigation (Aug 2026)
Napa Valley Register / Press Democrat — DA felony charges filed Aug 27, 2026
Attorney John Cadieux (Singleton Schreiber), on the record