Oil Company's Suit Against Hermosa Beach Finally Going to Trial

Macpherson Oil Company's against the City of Hermosa Beach will finally go to trial on Jan. 18, 2012. The announcement was made by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Joanne O'Donnell during a status conference held Tuesday.

Macpherson Oil is seeking roughly $700 million in damages. Last month, O'Donnell said she wanted lawyers for both sides of the dispute to submit briefs that would reflect their estimations of how long a trial would last.

Macpherson lawyers indicated that the trial would not extend beyond 20 days, and that it would take additional depositions for company experts discussing damages and geology. Michael Jenkins, an attorney who is representing the City of Hermosa Beach, said the trial could last for more than that length because of the multiple witnesses it would call to testify, and that it would need as long as eight months to prepare.

In February 2008, O'Donnell found that the City of Hermosa Beach was in breach of contract with Macpherson Oil, which said in its suit that the two sides had agreed in 1992 to a lease agreement for drilling. Hermosa Beach withdrew from the agreement in 1998 following the city council's decision to deny drilling permits in the wake of voters approving a measure that prohibited oil-drilling projects.

After O'Donnell also ruled that a jury should decide whether damages should be awarded to Macpherson, the City of Hermosa Beach requested that the case be dismissed. The trial was supposed to start in September 2009 but was stayed after the 2nd District Court of Appeal intervened.

The petition by the city was denied by justices in February 2010, after which it said the oil company's drilling application could only be denied by a jury "if there was substantial evidence ... after the lease was executed of health and safety risks associated with the project.''

City News Service contributed to this report.