According to Escambia County Attorney Alison Rogers, the meeting was to be private so that BP and officials could confidentially talk about outstanding claims regarding the BP oil spill. “The understanding was this to be like a mediation discussion,” said Rogers. “We both could pitch ideas, but they wouldn’t be held against us later in court.”
Attending the meeting, per my sources: Chris Jones, Escambia Co. Property Appraiser, Randy Oliver, County Administrator, Rogers, Amy Lovoy, County Budget Director, plus Rita Lee and Finance Director Dick Barker from the City.
According to my sources, BP was represented by Todd Thomson – BP Director of Govt Relations FL (Since Nov 2010); Keith Rupp. General Manager, External Relations at BP (also since Nov 2010); Maria Travis – BP (supposedly head of finance/claims, but LinkedIn listing says OB&C Houston Transformation Mgr at BP America), Brooks Schuler (spelling?) of Witt Associates and an attorney for BP (Scott something).
They described themselves as the “BP Litigation Avoidance Team.”
I wasn’t supposed to find out about the meeting….oh well, I did.
According to both Jones and Oliver, BP had called and asked for the meeting which was held on Tuesday, May 10.
“We have two outstanding issues,” said Oliver. “Both involving revenue.”
The county hasn’t resolved its claim over the state-shared revenue. “BP is concerned about double dipping (paying both the county and state,” said the county administrator. “I think we agreed on the methodology, and we will have to get some kind of state sign off.”
The other issue is what Oliver called “the big elephant in the room” –the loss in property values related to the BP oil spill. “We talked very generally and agreed to meet again in July.”
Oliver felt like it was a good meeting, but “BP never has a decision-maker at the table.”
Property Appraiser Chris Jones said that the meeting was really BP’s show. They asked for it, which Oliver confirmed, and Jones hosted it at their request.
“BP immediately came out and said that they didn’t think loss in property values was compensatory under OPA (Oil Protection Act),” said Jones. “I looked at Randy Oliver and thought then why are we here.”
BP did back off that hard position and asked about how Jones could prove the loss was oil-related. “I told them that it would come down to the experts.”
Jones said that values were already down because of the recession, but when the oil spill happened, real estate sales stopped. “They were on a fact-finding mission, but this was my first meeting with them and I’m always cautious when I’m talking with lawyers,” said Jones.
When the BP Litigation Avoidance Team pressed the property appraiser on how he would determine loss of property value related to the oil spill, he refused. “I didn’t want to get into a one-sided conversation,” said Jones. “I told them to give me a template of how they think it should be done. I wasn’t interested in giving them anything only to have it ripped apart by their experts.”
Jones told me that BP will be bringing their real estate expert to the July meeting. “Then maybe the county can determine whether it will need to lawyer or not.”
County Attorney Alison Rogers said that Escambia County is in the middle of the selection process for a law firm to represent it should chose to litigate. A selection committee has narrowed the field down to two teams:
- Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C. and McDonald, Fleming, Moorhead, Ferguson, Green, Smith & Dekozan, LLP.
- Levin, Papantonio, Thomas, Mitchell, Rafferty & Proctor, P.A.
The next meeting of the committee is scheduled for 3:00p on May 12, 2011 to discuss the proposed contract among the committee members.
The City of Pensacola has chosen its legal team which includes Levin Papantonio and Beggs & Lane.