San Diego City Settlement with Blackwater for $150,000 regarding Otay Mesa facility.

Citizens Oversight, City Of San Diego (2009-06-16) Raymond Lutz

This Page: https://copswiki.org/Common/M799
More Info: Blackwater, Blackwater Otay, Blackwater West, Private Mercenaries, War Profiteering

To be heard, June 16th at 10am. The San Diego City Council will consider approval of a resolution to settle the case with Blackwater-Xe over the Otay Mesa training facility. The City is considering paying Blackwater $150,000 for fees associated BW strong-arming their way into this facility without public review.

PLEASE ATTEND THIS MEETING: 1. It is a bad precedent to allow a company to force the city to grant a ministerial permit against the normal decision-making process of the Development Services Department of the City of San Diego. It will make it standard procedure for companies to change their name ("Southwest Law Enforcement", etc.) and break their project into small parts in order to keep them "ministerial" and not require discretionary processing (i.e. public review). This sort of action is why Blackwater has a BAD REPUTATION and even changed their name to Xe to try to avoid connection with their tarnished past.

2. A company that wins a lawsuit can claim that they were "right all along." Blackwater was not right. They were not right to use phony names to avoid public review. They were not right to break it up into small pieces to make sure the project would not be treated as discretionary. They were not right to work with a DSD insider to change the description of the permit to "Install Shooting Range" to the innocuous "Install Modular Training Unit." Blackwater-Xe has been implicated in ruthless killings in Iraq. They exhibit the same character when dealing with the public in San Diego County, both in Potrero, and now in Otay Mesa.

Here is the text of the agenda item.

ITEM-104: Settlement and Release of All Claims Arising from the Case of Blackwater Lodge and Training Center, Inc. v. Broughton et al., United States District Court Case Number 08-CV-0926-H (WMC).

CITY ATTORNEY'S RECOMMENDATION:

Adopt the following resolution: (R-2009-1208) (See below)

Authorizing the sum of One Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars ($150,000) to be paid from the Public Liability Fund in settlement of all of Plaintiff's claims against the City, its agents and employees, arising from the Litigation;

Authorizing the City Comptroller to issue one check in the amount of $150,000 made payable to Blackwater Lodge & Training Center, Inc., and its attorneys of record, the law firm of Neil Dymott.

SUPPORTING INFORMATION:

The Blackwater Lodge and Training Center, Inc. v. Broughton case arose as a result of the City's determination to withhold issuance of a certificate of occupancy for an industrial warehouse leased by Blackwater to conduct military training activities. A preliminary injunction was granted by the court, compelling the City to issue the certificate of occupancy in time for Blackwater to begin training sessions pursuant to its contract with the Navy. The City appealed the court's grant of the preliminary injunction to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. On December 2, 2008, the City Council approved settlement of the case for $150,000.00 by a vote of 8-0.

FISCAL CONSIDERATIONS:

Funding is available in the Public Liability Fund 81140.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY CONTRACTING INFORMATION (IF APPLICABLE): N/A

PREVIOUS COUNCIL AND/OR COMMITTEE ACTION:

On December 2, 2008, the City Council approved settlement of the case for $150,000 by a vote of 8-0.

COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION AND PUBLIC OUTREACH EFFORTS: None.

KEY STAKEHOLDERS AND PROJECTED IMPACTS: None.

Jones

Staff: Carmen Brock - Deputy City Attorney (619) 236-7726

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RESOLUTION NUMBER R-2009-1208

A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING SETTLEMENT OF THE CASE OF BLACKWATER LODGE & TRAINING CTR, INC. v. BROUGHTON et. d.

U.S. DISTRICT COURT CASE NO 08-CV-0926-H AND U.S. 9T" CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEAL CASE NO. 08-56028

WHEREAS, in Closed Session on December 2, 2008, by the following Vote: Yeas, 7; Nays, None; Council District 3 Not Present, the City Council for the City of San Diego [City] approved the following by motion:

WHEREAS on May 23,2008, Blackwater Lodge and Training Center, Inc., doing business as Blackwater Worldwide [Blackwater], filed Case No. 08-CV-0926-H in the United States District Court against the City, Kelly Broughton [Director of Development Services] and Afsarieh Ahrnadi [Chief Building Official] requesting a temporary restraining order [TRO], preliminary and permanent injunction [Litigation]; and

WHEREAS on June 4, 2008, the court granted Blackwater's request for issuance of a TRO; and on June 17, 2008, granted Blackwater's request for a Preliminary Injunction; and

WHEREAS on June 18, 2008, the City Attorney filed an appeal of the District Court's Grant of the Preliminary Injunction to the United States Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals by Case No.08-56028 [Appeal]; and

WHEREAS, on December 2, 2008, the City Council in closed session authorized settlement of the Litigation and the Appeal in an amount consistent with the amount set forth below;

NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Council of the City of San Diego that the Council authorizes:

1. The sum of one hundred fifty thousand dollars ($150,000) be paid from the Public Liability Fund in settlement of all of Plaintiff's claims against the City, its agents and employees, arising from the Litigation.

2. That the City Comptroller is authorized to issue one check in the amount of $150,000 made payable to Blackwater Lodge & Training Center, Inc. and its attorneys of record, the law firm of Neil Dymott.

APPROVED: JAN I. GOLDSMITH, City Attorney

By Carmen Brock, Deputy City Attorney

CB:mc

May 27, 2009
Or Dept: Risk Management
R-2009-1208

I hereby certify that the foregoing Resolution was passed by the Council of the City of San Diego, at this meeting of , 2009.

Approved:
(date)
Vetoed:
(date)
ELIZABETH S. MALAND
City Clerk
By
Deputy City Clerk
JERRY SANDERS, Mayor