180 results for author: No Coal in Oakland
NCIO Vows To Keep Up the Fight as Court Issues Final Judgment
Coal terminal trial ends in split decision. No Coal in Oakland warns, "Investors, beware. There will never be a coal export terminal in Oakland."
OBOT elects to continue development of West Gateway terminal
Late this afternoon, on January 8, 2024, Judge Noël Wise published her Proposed Judgment in OBOT v Oakland. Parties may file objections or comments by Friday January 12, 2024 at 4:00 pm, at which point Judge Wise will determine whether to schedule a hearing for oral argument prior to finalizing her judgment.
As reported on December 25, the Judge’s final decision on remedies (published on December 22nd) directed that “Tagami now has a choice between walking away from the project with a mere $317,683 or resuming efforts to build the terminal with a new deadline to get construction underway by July 2026. Phil Tagami’s team has until January 5 ...
Court Affirms: Tagami’s “Lost Profits” Claim Fails Bigly
On December 22, Judge Noël Wise brought a “Joyeux Noël” (French for “Merry Christmas”) to litigation-weary Oakland and a lump of coal for developer Phil Tagami whose victory in the liability phase of the trial has been cut to size by the judge’s final decision on the remedies from which Tagami must choose.
In her final decision in the state court battle between Phil Tagami’s OBOT and the City of Oakland, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Noël Wise slashed OBOT’s $159.6 million damages claim, offering less than a fifth of a penny on the dollar. Tagami based his claim on massive profits he says OBOT would have earned but for the ...
Judge denies OBOT’s “speculative” lost profits claim
Judge Wise awards fraction of a penny on Tagami's imaginary "losses"
Judge Noël Wise issued a "(Proposed) Statement of Decision re: Damages" in OBOT v Oakland today, December 11, 2023.
In it, she "finds that OBOT’s claim for lost profits is speculative and not reasonably certain."
As reported earlier, in seeking damages, "Tagami is seeking to choose between two alternative remedies that he has proposed: (1) $19.1 million in damages and reinstatement of his lease with 2½ years to commence construction ; or, (2) $159.6 million in damages to walk away from the project." In the second alternative, $154.4 million of the $159.6 million are the ...
High Stakes as Remedy Phase of Coal Trial Begins
Will developer Phil Tagami be awarded an imagined $150 million in past damages and future profits he claims he has lost or been prevented from gaining as a result of the City’s alleged efforts to block construction of a coal export terminal in West Oakland? Will Tagami be granted an extension of time to break ground on the terminal? Will he get an opportunity to choose between a massive amount of money or an opportunity to go ahead with the controversial project, in partnership with a Los Angeles hedge fund operator? Or will Tagami's victory in his lawsuit against the City of Oakland turn out to be much more limited when the dust settles?
These ...
Back in the Tunnel Again: State Court Rules Against City
This afternoon, Judge Noël Wise published her “(Proposed) Statement of Decision” in the OBOT v Oakland trial that began on July 10, 2023.
Courtroom Diary: NCIO Reports on OBOT v City of Oakland Trial
Follow NCIO's coverage of the trial here.
West Oakland rally reiterates community opposition to coal terminal
A Community Rally organized by Rev. Ken Chambers of the Interfaith Council of Alameda County was held on Saturday July 22, in the parking lot of the West Side Missionary Baptist Church where Rev. Chambers is pastor. Residents, community organizers, and many stalwarts of the long fight to keep coal out of Oakland turned out for a free lunch, music, and new banners created by the incomparable David Solnit.
Three current Oakland City Council members spoke -- Carroll Fife, Janani Ramachandran, and Dan Kalb -- but were careful not to address the question of coal due to the ongoing lawsuit between developers and the City (see Courtroom Diary for the ...
Pretrial Hearing: scheduling and pretrial issues
All signs are that the trial in OBOT/OGRE v City of Oakland will begin on Monday morning, July 10, 2023 at 9:00 a.m. in Department 514, Hayward Hall of Justice, in Hayward, CA. A pre-trial hearing on the afternoon of July 6 dealt with scheduling and key pretrial issues on which the parties could not agree going into trial.
The public is welcome to attend the trial in Judge Noel Wise’s courtroom, but the court announced that there would be no audio stream (i.e., there will be no remote listening option).
Most importantly, Judge Wise adopted the City’s proposal to bifurcate the trial into a liability stage and a remedy stage. During the ...
No Jury Trial in Oakland Coal Dispute: Judge Wise Will Decide
At a pre-trial conference on June 28, 2023, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Noël Wise approved an agreement between would-be coal terminal developers and the City of Oakland to waive their respective rights to a jury trial in the ongoing battle over the City’s termination of the developers’ lease in 2018. At a non-jury or “bench” trial, the judge hears the evidence and decides all questions of law and fact. If all goes smoothly, the parties will make their opening statements on the morning of July 10th in Judge Wise’s Hayward, California courtroom.
The developers will be asking the judge to award them $148 million of damages and to ...