Mexican Resident Sues Sempra Over LNG Pklant

[Hans Laetz, Newsgroup Editor]

Editor's note:
It's been quiet on the Cal LNG front lately, but this development is
fascinating and much deeper than the limited reports in the San Diego
Union-Tribune ... and far beyond what this artoicle from the
Courthouse News Service reports.
Sempra is facing major political and legal challenges to its Costa
Azul LNG terminal.
Sempra has issued news releases in the PR Newswire answering these
charges ... the San Diego pape report only on the answers, not the
charges.
But the the charges made in this lawsuit are the proverbial tip of the
iceberg.

More on that later ... times have been busy here and I needed to get
some other projects out of the way. Watch this space ...


Sempra Bribes Destroyed Him and Got Him Thrown in Jail, Man Says
By ELIZABETH BANICKI
Courtroom News Service
SAN DIEGO (CN) - A Mexican citizen claims that Sempra Energy paid
a few thousand dollars in bribes to have him thrown in jail, his
family evicted, and their home north of Ensenada bulldozed, so it
could build a $1 billion power plant whose legally required setback
intruded on his land. Ramon Eugenio Sanchez Ritchie sued Sempra for
fraud, conversion, trespass, assault and battery and false
imprisonment, in Federal Court.
In his 21-page complaint, Sanchez says Sempra Energy was awarded
a 15-year natural gas supply contract, estimated at $1.4 billion, in
January 2005 by the Comisión Federal de Electricidad, Mexico's state-
owned electrical utility.
But Sempra had a problem, Sanchez says: it did not own his 672
acres on Ensenada's Costa Azul.
Sanchez claims Sempra needed his land to satisfy the "setback
cushion" required by its contract. The setback protects local
residents from the dangers of living so close to a natural gas plant.
Citing press reports, Sanchez claims that Sempra bought up all of
the neighboring land except his, and "paid up to $5 million for each
of the properties located within the boundaries and setback cushion."
Sanchez says Sempra never bought his land, but built the plant
along the coast of Baja California anyway. He claims the plant next to
his land violated the setback requirement.
Sanchez claims that Sempra and its cohorts filed bogus purchase
agreements with Mexican authorities to gain control of his land. The
phony legal filings caused him and his family to be evicted from their
own land, and Sanchez to be thrown in jail and prosecuted, he says.
He claims that Sempra "paid $16,000 in cash to Mexican officials
who would not otherwise have raided plaintiff's property and falsely
arrested plaintiff."
The complaint continues: "Once this illegal raid was successfully
completed and plaintiff's home destroyed, Sempra Energy's management
rewarded Alex Rios, a key LNG Plant employee with an all-expenses-paid
$22,000 vacation to Europe, all disguised by Sempra Energy as a
'bonus.' The unlawful fraudulent eviction was unique in other ways.
Not only was the bulldozing of plaintiff's ranch house swift and
complete, but there was the establishment of a 50-person armed guard
on the property, the payment of unusually large, and thus suspect,
lawyer and other 'eviction' costs, and a purported contract to build
an exorbitantly priced $1 million perimeter fence. Finally, not
content to merely destroy plaintiff's home and assault his family in
the process of eviction, Sempra energy through its agents filed false
police reports and insisted even after securing plaintiff's land to
their own use, to have him arrested and detained."
After a long tortuous run through the courts, Sanchez says, "On
March 10, 2010, the Superior Court for the Tenth District of Baja
California, Mexico held that plaintiff was the legal possessor of the
property and absolved him of any criminal liability," the complaint
states. "The Superior Court reiterated and again found that plaintiff
is the owner and has been in lawful possession of the Property since
1983, and that Sempra Energy, Sempra Energy Mexico, and ECA knew as
early as July 18, 2001, that plaintiff ... was in lawful possession of
the property. It further ordered that possession of the Property be
returned to plaintiff."
But that's not all, Sanchez says: "As a result of Sempra Energy's
failure to comply with the court's order, on May 24, 2010, the court
ordered that plaintiff's Property be restored to him within 24 hours
of the issuance of the order. The Mexican authorities executed the
order on May 25, 2010, and thereafter restored possession of the
Property to plaintiff. However, because there now exists an LNG plant
and pipeline within walking distance from plaintiff's property,
plaintiff is no longer able to use or enjoy the Property."
Sanchez demands restitution and compensatory and punitive damages
for unjust enrichment, emotional distress, interference with economic
advantage, negligence, fraud, conversion, trespass, battery, assault,
false imprisonment and unfair business practices.
And he wants Sempra ordered to place all the earnings it made or
makes from his land into a trust in his name.
Sempra is the only defendant named in the complaint.
Sanchez is represented by Kirk Hulett with Hulett Harper Stewart
of San Diego.