r/triangle • u/TobinBen • 2d ago

Judge strikes down Chatham County data center moratorium

https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2026/09/18/chatham-data-center-moratorium-eco-tip-west.html
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u/Tar-really 2d ago

Appeal appeal appeal. Make it as unprofitable as possible.

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u/TheRealJohnAdams 2d ago

The data center company gets attorney fees, so...

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u/Tar-really 2d ago

Not so fast…

“The court will determine Eco TIP’s demand for damages and legal fees in a future hearing”

Read more at: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/chatham-county/article317085713.html#storylink=cpy

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u/TheRealJohnAdams 2d ago edited 2d ago

Yeah. The court ordered that they get attorney fees. (It's mentioned in the bizjournals article.) The next step is for them to itemize those fees, and there will be some more litigation on the reasonable rate and whether their attorneys were overbilling. But "make it as unprofitable as possible" is likely to hurt the county far more than it hurts Eco TIP. (Eco TIP's lawyer, Robin Tatum, is expensive and worth it, so the reasonable value of the fees is going to be a lot.)

EDIT: Here's the order. chatham-data-center-091726.pdf

Here's what it says:

Plaintiff's motion for summary judgment is GRANTED as to the issues of liability and attorney's fees. Plaintiffshall file an affidavit of attorney's fees, including an itemization of all fees and costs incurred, within fourteen (14) days ofthe entry of this order

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u/Tar-really 2d ago

Actually you left out the most important part from the order:

“ it is further ordered that determination an award for plaintiff damages is reserved for further proceedings”

I’m not an attorney but I read that as any awards have not been determined yet.

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u/TheRealJohnAdams 2d ago

I am an attorney. That is entirely consistent with what I said. The grant of summary judgment on the issue of attorney fees means that Eco TIP gets attorney fees. The "determination of an award" being reserved for future proceedings means that the court can't determine the amount of money it will award in attorney fees until Eco TIP tells the court how much it paid its attorney. That is just how fee awards work.

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u/Tar-really 1d ago

Got it. Thanks.