Apalachicola wins new hearing in lawsuit against county

A legal dispute between the City of Apalachicola and the Franklin County Commission over the distribution of BP fines is being sent back to a lower court for further consideration.

  

At issue is the distribution of any money Franklin County receives from fines levied on BP because of the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The county created a 13-member RESTORE council in early 2013 to consider projects that would be funded with fines levied on BP.

The cities argued that any RESTORE money the county receives should be split between the counties and the cities based on population – they asked that the county commission sit down with the cities to resolve the issue.

When the county did not agree to meet, the City of Apalachicola filed suit in circuit court.

The city’s suit was dismissed with prejudice by the Circuit court.

That decision was appealed, and this week the first district court of appeals court said the argument has merit and should be reconsidered.

They agreed to return the case to the circuit court for another hearing.

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