Tagami Files for Summary Judgment in OBOT v. City of Oakland Case

  • Oakland Youth turn out for the Zombie March on Coal to Phil Tagami's home, 2017-10-30. Photo credit: Kim White.

On Monday, November 20, developer Phil Tagami’s lawyers filed a motion for summary judgment in the United States District Court case Oakland Bulk & Oversized Terminal, LLC vs. City of Oakland. Summary judgment is a procedure by which some or all of a case is decided in favor of one side or the other prior to trial on grounds that there are no contested facts that would affect the outcome.  Oakland Bulk & Oversized Terminal, LLC (OBOT) is the corporate shell through which Tagami and his partners hold a 66-year-lease on a corner of the former Oakland Army Base near the Bay Bridge toll plaza.

OBOT sued the City of Oakland last December seeking to overturn the City’s July 2016 Ordinance barring large-scale storage and handling of coal in Oakland.  OBOT says a trial is unnecessary because the Ordinance “violates the Constitution, is preempted by federal statutes, and the City’s application of that Ordinance breaches the Development Agreement between the City and OBOT as a matter of law.”

The defendant City of Oakland and environmental intervenors Sierra Club and San Francisco Baykeeper will file their own motion or motions for summary judgment on December 5.  OBOT will file another brief on December 18 and the City and intervenors will file a final brief on December 29.

Judge Vince Chhabria will hear the summary judgment motions on January 10, 2018, only six days before the case is set to go to trial.