The Settlement Hearing Was a Farce

* On April 14, there was a train wreck in Courtroom 606 in the Federal Building (Judge John E. Ryan’s court). I had the opportunity to observe the legal process in motion. Under consideration of the court was a request by the Buena Park Redevelopment Agency to sequester or set aside our portion of the investment pool with the balance owed to us by the county, should we prove our case. We did this in response to the supposed settlement agreement made available to all Orange County investment pool participants. By the end of our brief hearing, it was apparent that the train left the station before we presented our arguments.

The agreement offered two options with an unspoken Option C. Under Option A and Option B you get about 76 or 77 cents on the dollar up front. With Option C, you reserve your right to litigate the entire matter trying to get all of your agency’s taxpayer money back.

The Buena Park Redevelopment Agency’s request to Judge Ryan was that he allow us to reserve our money until he had a chance to hear the “trust theory.” Judge Ryan refused to allow the taxpayers of Buena Park the opportunity to argue that the county held our money in trust and had no right to put it in bankruptcy. He did this by not allowing us the opportunity to sequester or protect at least our 76.4 cents on the dollar.

The Buena Park Redevelopment Agency was, with the help of the court, coerced to take Option B, which is truly beneficial only to the County of Orange. I was told earlier in the morning that the train had left the station before Judge Ryan heard our arguments.

The judge’s decision makes it obvious that he did not understand our arguments. He said that if the Buena Park Redevelopment Agency wants to argue the trust theory, it must gamble all of its taxpayers’ money held within the pool. Obviously we nor any other victim of this train wreck would take such a risk with our constituents’ money.

A true understanding of what the settlement offers should indicate to any resident of Orange County that the settlement argument options were a farce, and all of us got run over by a fast-moving train.

KEVIN O’ROURKE

City manager, Buena Park