On April 15, there was a court hearing on a motion by Chevron to compel the City of Richmond to have its Measure T proceeds placed in escrow. The Court denied Chevron's motion.  Accordingly, based on statements made in Chevron's court papers, Chevron was to have immediately made a Measure T payment to the City in the amount of $21 million.

During the hearing, Judge Flinn made clear that he wants this matter resolved as quickly as reasonably possible, while allowing the parties a reasonably amount of time to conduct discovery. 

In an advisory statement, Judge Flinn explained that the City should be mindful that the validity of Measure T is in dispute in this case, and that until the matter is resolved, the City should not treat Measure T funds in the same manner as other general revenue funds.  This was not a legal ruling, just a cautionary note by the judge. The City of Richmond had planned to do this and is doing it anyway.

Chevron Refinery Manager Mike Coyle emailed me the following:

This coming Sunday, the CBS News television program “60 Minutes” plans to run a segment reporting on the long-running lawsuit against Chevron in Ecuador.  Attached is the latest information from Chevron on the situation in Ecuador.  We will be sharing this communication more broadly tomorrow and an I wanted to give you an early copy.

I encourage you to visit the website we have established for a definitive source of accurate information on this matter:  http://www.chevron.com/ecuador/

Attached to the email was a letter, Click here for Chevron Ecuador Update.

Earlier, Mr Coyle had also sent a letter to City Council members.  Click here for Mike Coyle Letter to the Community.