Balli Descendants’ to get Reparations

B R O W N S V I L L E, Texas, Aug. 2 -- A New York lawyer owes aMexican-American family decades’ worth of profits on oil pumpedfrom below Padre Island, a Cameron County jury decided today.

The all-Latino jury announced their verdict after four days ofdeliberations.

Jurors also found that Gilbert Kerlin, 90, committed fraud, wasguilty of malice and conspired against the Balli family.

The jury must now decide how much money Kerlin should pay theBalli family. The Ballis asked for $11 million in oil royalties,interest and lawyers’ fees.

Emotional Courtroom

After the verdict was read, Balli family members gathered intearful celebration.

“I’m so happy. This is going to open the doors,” said PearlBalli. “This is not an isolated case. This happened to a lot ofpeople.”

Kerlin was fresh out of Harvard Law School in 1938, when hebought the titles to Padre Island from the Balli heirs. All 27 ofthe titles traced back to Padre Nicolas Balli, a Mexican priest whoowned the island in the 18th century. Kerlin won’t say how much hepaid for each title.

When he bought the island, Kerlin agreed to split any oilprofits with the heirs.

But Kerlin never paid; he said the Ballis had sold Padre Islandin the 19th century, and claimed he had bought the island from thewrong people.

Kerlin did not appear in court today.

A gag order bans Kerlin and his lawyers from saying whether hewill appeal.

‘Open Wound for Generations’

The historic court opinion lends credence to the generations-oldBalli complaint: Anglo settlers unfairly stripped away land andsocial status from the storied, powerful border dynasty.

“We have a right to find closure,” said Rebecca Gomez Sexton,whose grandfather sold his stake in Padre Island to Kerlin morethan 60 years ago. “This has been an open wound for generations.”

Armando C. Alonzo, associate professor of history at Texas A&MUniversity and author of Tejano Legacy: Rancheros and Settlers inSouth Texas; said before the verdict was announced that adecision in the Ballis’ favor would be “revolutionary.”