Oakland might not owe coal company hundreds of millions after new court ruling

""This Court will consider the substance of Oakland's disagreements with and ITS' defenses of that decision during the next phase of this litigation," Beaton wrote in his ruling."

""In fact, days prior to the entry of Judge Beaton's Order, my client actually presented a simple proposed stipulation to the City vacating the judgment," Stosberg wrote in an email."

Oakland faced a potentially ruinous Kentucky bankruptcy judgment finding it interfered with a coal developer's efforts to build an export terminal, exposing the city to hundreds of millions in damages. A federal district judge, Benjamin Beaton, vacated the bankruptcy court's final judgment, finding the bankruptcy court lacked authority to enter a final judgment on core disputes and that the prior judgment addressed liability but not damages. The vacatur returns the case to a procedural phase requiring Oakland to file objections to the summary judgment and allows the district court to consider Oakland's disagreements and ITS's defenses in further litigation. Insight Terminal Solutions' attorney said Beaton vacated only the final judgment and did not disturb the bankruptcy judge's findings of fact and conclusions of law.

Read at The Oaklandside