Oregon Energy Department Case Settled. State Pays $1 Million

The long running dispute between the state and former Oregon Department of Energy official Mark Long has been settled. “I am pleased to report that the Department of Justice and State of Oregon can put this matter behind us,” said Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum. The state will pay Long $1 million. There is no admission of liability.

Win or lose, these cases would have been significantly more expensive had they continued suggested Rosenblum. The $1 million settlement covers the $560,000 attorney fee judgment won by Long in a case that was on appeal as well as the $7.5 million lawsuit he had filed separately.

The dispute has its roots in a 2010 criminal investigation conducted by the Oregon Department of Justice into an Energy Department contract. The DOJ declined to prosecute Long or anyone else in the case. Long subsequently sued the state twice, the first over records production, the second alleging the criminal investigation violated his civil rights.

These matters have been ongoing for several years and this settlement puts an end to it.

“This is a lot of money, but it’s a prudent economic decision for Oregon taxpayers,” Attorney General Rosenblum said. “There is already a judgment against the state for nearly $600,000. The state also faced a potentially long and expensive trial in the other, related case. It could easily cost upwards of another million dollars just to try the case. So, even if we were to win, Oregonians could lose.”