Farmer Wins Latest Round to Sell Trees at Pierce College

He lost, he won, he lost and five days before Christmas, urban farmer Joe Cicero won again.

Cicero secured permission from a state appellate court Thursday to reopen his Christmas tree lot at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, the subject of a legal battle that has set off a blizzard of legal orders.

It was the second time that Cicero was ordered by a court to halt his tree sales, then won a reversal.

“Everybody’s bouncing around like yo-yos,” a jubilant Cicero said Thursday. “It’s like the game of red light-green light when I was in school.”

Cicero closed his Christmas tree business at noon Wednesday after Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David P. Yaffe ruled that the tree lot was a clear violation of Cicero’s lease with the college allowing him to farm about 15 acres and sell the produce.

On Wednesday evening, as would-be customers looked on in frustration, Cicero’s workers spent hours loading wooden stands and other accessories onto trucks to be returned to suppliers.

But the 2nd District State Court of Appeal Thursday stayed Yaffe’s preliminary injunction--which had been requested by the Los Angeles Community College District--pending further review.

College district officials expressed resignation Thursday at the latest twist in the case.

“At this point, it doesn’t really matter much. We are getting so close to Christmas,” said Jim Lynch, general counsel for the college district.

The college district first took Cicero to court in November after Pierce administrators learned that their tenant planned to sell Christmas trees, although school officials had told him not to.

The college acted under pressure from Stu Miller, a rival tree merchant who has a lot across the street from Cicero’s. Miller brought suit against the college, arguing that it was unfair to allow Cicero to sell trees from publicly owned land without giving other tree dealers a chance to bid on use of the location.

A judge issued a temporary restraining order to stop Cicero from opening for business, but an appeals court reversed that ruling.

Business has boomed, fed by publicity generated by the running legal battle, Cicero said.