Politics & Government

Hermosa Beach City Council Releases Oil Settlement Documents

The documents were protected by attorney-client privilege previously.

The City of Hermosa Beach posted on its website today documents from 2008 and 2009 that were prepared by the city’s attorneys and consultants as legal strategy during the lawsuit filed by Macpherson Oil Company.

The documents were protected by attorney-client privilege previously, but the Hermosa Beach City Council voted Tuesday to waive the privilege and release the documents, which were prepared during the 14-year legal battle with Macpherson.  

See the documents here: http://www.hermosabch.org/index.aspx?page=723

The result of the out-of-court settlement in 2012 was that MacPherson agreed to drop its lawsuit and assign its lease and permits for an oil project at the city maintenance yard to E & B Natural Resources Management Corp., subject to a voter-approved ballot measure in 2014. 

The ballot measure will ask Hermosa Beach voters to decide whether to repeal a ban on oil drilling that began in 1995. It was that same ban that set the Macpherson Oil lawsuit in motion.

“In releasing these documents, the city is continuing to fulfill its commitment to serve as the unbiased clearinghouse of fact for Hermosa Beach voters,” said Mayor Patrick “Kit” Bobko in a press release. “It should be noted that the findings and opinions expressed in these reports were among many factors the City Council weighed in its unanimous decision to settle the oil lawsuit in light of court rulings that shifted the burden of proof to the city.” 

The settlement capped the city’s liability to $17.5 million, whereas MacPherson had been suing for $750 million in damages. 

Among the documents is the result of a 2009 mock jury excercise implemented by the city's lawyers.  

“Mock jury exercises help test your arguments, see what might be confusing to jurors and gauge how a group of average citizens might view the case,” said City Attorney Michael Jenkins in a press release. “They can help measure the strengths and weaknesses of your case. Lawyers may modify their trial presentations based on the mock age 2 of 2 Legal Documents Made Public  jurors’ input. The tool helps lawyers prepare for trial and advise their clients to evaluate the risk they face in placing their case before a jury.”  

The other documents released pertain to a lawyer’s 2009 assessment of the city’s chances for potentially avoiding payment of a large judgment by entering into Chapter 9 bankruptcy, and an evaluation of the city's finances in 2008. 


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