Defended against a local municipality’s suit that placed a $2 billion electrical transmission project in grave jeopardy.
A fortune 250 investor-owned utility was upgrading 173 miles of its electrical power lines to transmit to Southern California electricity produced by renewable power sources, such as wind, from the central valley of California. The $2 billion project, known as the Tehachapi Renewable Transmission Project (TRTP), had been approved by an order of the California Public Utilities Commission. Unhappy that the route of the TRTP would be within its boundaries, a Southern California city filed suit against the utility, claiming that the project exceeded the utility’s existing easement rights. The utility had to complete the project in a timely manner in order to meet state-mandated requirements regarding renewable power.
In this “must win” situation, the utility engaged Willenken, leading to a complete victory at both the trial and the appellate level, and allowing the client to move forward with the project unhindered by the litigation.
