Linn County judge Thomas McHill has rejected the state of Oregon’s post-trial appeals of the $1.1 billion jury verdict against the state for failing to maximize timber harvests on state forests since 2001.

The state had argued that there was insufficient evidence presented to justify the November verdict in Linn County Circuit Court that the state had breached its contract with 13 rural counties by failing to maximize logging revenues. The state also argued that there were errors of law committed during the trial, and asked the judge to substitute his own judgement, notwithstanding the verdict, or order a new trial.

McHill said most -- if not all -- of those issues were ruled on during the trial or pretrial. “This court finds nothing raised by the State which rises to the standards upon which the court would grant Defendants' motion.”

The whopping $1.065 billion judgement against the state will now begin accruing interest at 9% per annum. That’s about $96 million in the first year alone, or $262,000 a day.

The state now has 30 days to appeal the verdict to the state appeals court, and is expected to do so. The Oregon Department of Justice did not respond Friday for a request for comment.

John DiLorenzo, the lead lawyer for the 13 logging-dependent counties and 150 special taxing district who filed the lawsuit, says the state faces an even greater appellate risk. If the state appeals, he says the plaintiffs will file a cross appeal for pre-judgement interest, which he said would amount to an additional $500 million.

That was an issue the state already prevailed upon during pretrial motions, when the judge agreed there was no statute dealing with such pre-judgement interest against the state. But DiLorenzo says he’s prepared to move forward with an appeal of that ruling.

“These are big stakes if they’re appealing,” he said.

-- Ted Sickinger; tsickinger@oregonian.com; 503-221-8505; @tedsickinger

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