City Loses Appeal in State Court Lawsuit
In a 57-page opinion by Judge James Richman, the California Court of Appeal rejected the City of Oakland’s appeal from the judgment against the City rendered by Alameda County Superior Court Judge Noël Wise in January 2024.
Judge Wise’s judgment was actually a “split decision” in which the City both won and lost. Judge Wise denied OBOT’s damage claims of $159.6 million, but granted injunctive relief reinstating OBOT’s ground lease and giving OBOT 2½ years to get construction of a terminal underway on the West Oakland waterfront.
OBOT did not appeal the denial of its damage claims, although its sublessee, Insight Terminal Solutions, is pursuing similar damage claims in a lawsuit pending in Kentucky.
The City challenged the ruling reinstating OBOT’s ground lease and extending its construction deadlines.
The Court summarized its decision as follows:
The City appeals from the judgment and the orders asserting four arguments, that Judge Wise: (1) misinterpreted and misapplied the force majeure provision; (2) interpreted the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing to “duplicate or alter” express terms of the Ground Lease; (3) erroneously declined to apply claim preclusion; and (4) improperly entered judgment to OGRE on third party breach of contract claims. We conclude that none of the arguments has merit, and we affirm.
The City may seek review of the Court of Appeal’s decision by the California Supreme Court.
The text of the opinion is here.
Image/credit: The Earl Warren Building and Courthouse (former California State Building) — at Civic Center Plaza in the San Francisco Civic Center, California. This building is home to the Supreme Court of California and the Court of Appeal for the First Appellate District. Image credit: Coolcaesar, via WikiMedia Commons, Creative Commons license CC By-SA 3.0. Thumbs down image licensed via Canva.