In a final judgment, the city of Fernandina Beach has been ordered to pay $1.2 million to McGill Aviation for attorney fees and associated costs over a legal dispute at the municipal airport. The attorney fees amounted to $937,558.

The case, which began in 2004, concluded June 30 in the Fourth Judicial Circuit Court of Nassau County, though the city could still appeal the judgment awarding attorney fees. The total amount awarded in the judgment against the city, including previously awarded damages, approaches $2 million.

City Attorney Tammi Bach said the city has 30 days to decide whether to appeal the latest ruling. City commissioners are scheduled to meet in a closed session this month to discuss the case.

"This is a judgment completely in favor of McGill," Bach said. "(The city) believed in its arguments, but (Judge Brian Davis) just didn't agree with us."

"In the end, you don't feel like anyone's the winner," Bach said. "This is not a fun process and it's not a game."

"There are no winners here," said Sean McGill, vice president of McGill Aviation, echoing Bach's sentiments. "It's unfortunate that the city's refusal to recognize the issues at the airport had to lead to this."

According to City Finance Director Patti Clifford, the city has reserved $1 million to pay for the McGill judgment, but there has been no decision as to where the rest of the money will come from. The entire judgment amount accrues an interest rate of 6 percent annually, according to a court document.

The city previously was ordered to pay McGill more than $750,000 in damages. About $300,000 of that is a rent credit of $3,084 that McGill is to receive each month from July 2008 through the end of its lease with the city in 2018.

City of Fernandina Beach v. McGill Aviation Corp. was a complex case that originated as a property dispute between the city and its fixed-base operator at the Fernandina Beach Municipal Airport. McGill Aviation mainly handles fuel sales and light ground support.

According to Sean McGill, the troubles began in 2001 when the city decided to do construction at the airport, reducing McGill's leasehold property. After a "minor" fuel spill at the airport, according to McGill, the city "decided not to talk about the lease issue."

 

McGill says in the summer of 2004, the city moved to evict the company, but Nassau County Circuit Judge Davis blocked the eviction.

McGill Aviation also claimed the city was preventing the company from building T-hangars and further claimed a loss of fuel sales and that the city misappropriated funds, among other issues.

According to Bach, the lawsuit was a complicated one with many case numbers, settlement conferences in court or with an arbitrator and closed sessions over the years. It eventually included 9,000 pages of documentation and 29 days of testimony, an unusually large number according to Bach.

"There were a lot of issues and a lot of witnesses," Bach said, because the arbitrator was allowed to bring in all evidence.