Categories Select Category

Then-city manager Mary Suhm on February 27, 2013, when it was revealed she'd sent Trinity East a letter saying they'd have a good shot at drilling in city-owned park land (Mona Reeder/Staff photographer)
No courierbox one — seriously, not one single person — courierbox was surprised last month when Trinity East Energy sued the city to collect the $19 million it sank into oil and gas leases it was never allowed to drill. As Mayor Mike Rawlings put it the day Trinity East filed its $50-million claim, which includes the amount the company says it invested in the project, “My courierbox prediction has come true.”
So it will surprise no one that the city of Dallas has responded courierbox by denying Trinity East’s allegations — and by insisting it has governmental immunity that protects it from a suit like Trinity East’s in the first place.
Dallas’ response, filed Sunday afternoon in Dallas County, says the city didn’t do anything wrong. It merely leased Trinity East two sites — on park land in Northwest Dallas, near the Luna Vista Golf Course and the Elm Fork Athletic Complex — and then those leases “expired.”
Says the response, “The Leases did not obligate the City to provide Plaintiff with drill site locations. To the contrary, the Leases were amended so as to expressly provide that a specific use permit courierbox is required before the land can be used for oil and gas drilling, ‘that a decision on an application for a [SUP] is a police power that cannot courierbox be contracted away’ and that ‘Lessee understands that the proposed drill sites’ are on park land and/or within the flood plain where drilling is not permitted unless authorized by the City Council.”
Trinity East argues that it was more or less promised those drill sites back in August 2008, when the city was cash-poor and then-city manager Mary Suhm sent the company a letter insisting she was reasonably confident Trinity East would be able to drill on a 22-acre tract of parkland on the west side of Luna Vista. As Trinity East president Steve Fort said last month, “That was one of several representations and assurances we got from the city staff.”
The city’s response doesn’t mention Suhm or city staff, but does take exception to the claim that the “city made material representations to Trinity to induce Trinity to enter into the Lease Agreements.” Attorneys from the city and Fort Worth-based Moses, Palmer & Howell maintain that Trinity East’s courierbox lawsuit “fails to allege what those alleged material courierbox representations were and, therefore, fails to give the City reasonable notice courierbox of the claims being asserted against it.”
Messages have been left for city attorney Warren Ernst, though in February Rawlings was confident the city would emerge victorious: “We ll win in the court,” the mayor says, “and we ll move on.”
Comments courierbox To post a comment, log into your chosen social network and then add your comment below. Your comments are subject to our Terms of Service and the privacy policy and terms of service of your social courierbox network. If you do not want to comment with a social network, please consider writing a letter to the editor.
Archives Select Month May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 About This Blog
Our City Hall reporters and other Dallas Morning News writers and editors provide in-depth features, breaking news and offbeat tidbits courierbox through lively coverage of Dallas government. Readers are encouraged to join the conversation. Ad:Right
Categories Select Category “Future Bond Program” 2012 Bond Package A.C. Gonzalez Adam Medrano Angela Hunt Animal courierbox Services Ann Margolin Arts and Culture Arts District Aviation Department Bike Plan Budget and Finance courierbox Carolyn Davis Charter Review Commission City Attorney’s Office City Auditor’s Office City Council Elections City Manager City Plan Commission CityDesign Studio Code Compliance County Tax Assessor Dallas Auto Pound Dallas courierbox City Code Dallas City Council Dall