Oklahoma Supreme Court: BOK owes City of Tulsa over failure of Great Plains Airlines

OKLAHOMA CITY - The former Tulsa-based Great Plains Airline went bankrupt six years ago; but the legal and financial fallout is still going on.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court issued an initial ruling Tuesday in which Bank of Oklahoma would be ordered to repay the City of Tulsa a $7.1 million settlement after the failure of Great Plains Airlines, court documents show.

In a 5-4 vote , the court "[remanded} the instant matter back to the District Court of Tulsa County to direct the repayment of the settlement funds from BOK back to the City of Tulsa."

In a 2008 settlement, Mayor Kathy Taylor agreed to pay the bank $7.1 million for outstanding debt from Great Plains' default in 2004.

The city had mortgaged the Air Force Plant to BOK in exchange for a $30 million loan to support Great Plains.

After the airline failed, the Federal Aviation Administration quashed the sale of the property, causing BOK to sue the city.

"There were several councilors, at the time, who tried to pursued Mayor Taylor not to do it. There's no legal liability for the City of Tulsa, there's no reason that the City of Tulsa should be named as a defendant, or should pay to settle the lawsuit," Councilor Rick Westcott said.

"The order from the court reinstates the claim that the Bank of Oklahoma has against the airport," Robert Sartin said, legal representation for the airport and city.

Sartin said the court basically restored the parties to their former positions.

"That's a claim that will need to be resolved one way or another before this matter can be finally put to bed."

BOK issued a statement to 2NEWS saying, "The Supreme Court's invalidation of the settlement with the City has freed Bank of Oklahoma to assert its $12.5 million claim against the Airport Trust for not fulfilling its obligation to the bank. While we'd hoped this issue would have been put to rest with the settlement back in 2008, the court's decision now requires that it continue."

The parties involved in this latest ruling have 20 days to file an appeal or ask the court to take a second look at its ruling.

2NEWS was told that Former Mayor Taylor wasn't available for comment on the matter, on Thursday.