City Will Appeal $37 Million Inverse Condemnation Judgment to Ninth Circuit

As reported here and here, the City of Half Moon Bay, California is going to appeal the $37 million federal inverse condemnation judgment to the Ninth Circuit.  In the first story, the San Francisco Chronicle reports:

The Half Moon Bay City Council on Tuesday night voted to hire a team of appellate lawyers and announced it would fight a potentially ruinous federal court decision that orders the city to pay $36.8 million to a developer in a property dispute.

"The City Council has decided to go forward with an appeal," Mayor Bonnie McClung told a crowd of more than 70 people gathered for the council's first regular meeting since the ruling came down. "We are united in our position at this point that this is the best course of action for us."

The council voted unanimously to hire Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, a San Francisco law firm that specializes in public finance and corporate law. In the same action, the panel also hired Piper Jaffray, a financial firm that has worked with cities across the state, to serve as a financial adviser.

The firms will work with the council on what to do about a court judgment that is more than three times the coastal city's $10 million annual budget. The judgment, the council said in a joint statement, threatens the "very existence of our city government."

Read the entire report here.  Gideon Kanner adds his insight to the latest developments here.