California Supreme Court Denies Review in OBOT v Oakland

Today, the California Supreme Court denied review of the Court of Appeal decision upholding Judge Noel Wise’s 2024 ruling that the City of Oakland did not have a right to terminate its lease with Phil Tagami’s Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal (OBOT) in 2018. Judge Wise rejected OBOT’s claim for $159.6 million in damages (primarily for speculative “lost profits”) but gave the developers two and a half years to get construction underway. The City appealed unsuccessfully and the Supreme Court has now let the Court of Appeal’s decision stand. This marks the end of one phase of the ten-year battle to keep coal out of Oakland and the beginn...