Excerpt:

The city of Alameda recently won another legal battle against SunCal. Judge Charles Breyer of the United States District Court dismissed the developer's $100 million lost profits claim against the city.

When the city and SunCal negotiated the terms of their joint development agreement, they stated that if the city breached the contract, SunCal would be entitled to $1 million in damages. When the city's relationship with SunCal fell apart in 2010, the developer not only sued the city for the $1 million, but also for $17 million in lost expenses and $100 million in lost profits.

SunCal believed it would have made $100 million if it had developed Alameda Point. According to City Attorney Janet Kern, Breyer ruled that the $100 million claim was, "ridiculously speculative." Breyer ruled that because the city never officially certified Sun- Cal's Alameda Point development plan, the developer could not have conclusively determined how much it would have made developing Alameda Point.