Appeal Court Refuses to Rule on Sign Law

The state Court of Appeal has refused to rule on whether state law limits Agoura Hills’ authority to force businesses to remove outlawed freeway signs, stymieing the city’s efforts to avoid a long and costly trial.

The case will now be tried in Van Nuys Superior Court, but Judge Stephen Petersen has agreed to consider the issue as soon as the trial begins, said Mitchell Abbott, an attorney for the city.

Twelve businesses sued the city last year to keep their freeway signs, which the city outlawed in 1985. The city gave them seven years to take down the signs, which are still standing.

The businesses say they are protected by the state’s Business and Professions Code, which guarantees businesses the right to have signs if their establishments can’t be clearly seen from the freeway. If the judge rules that the code applies in this instance, Abbott said, “that will be the end of the case.”

The city has maintained that the code does not apply because it deals with height and size issues, while the city wants to do away with the signs altogether.

Abbott has said that a trial would cost the city at least $100,000 in legal fees, a waste of money because he believes the case will ultimately go before the Court of Appeal.

Robert Aran, who wrote the portion of the Business and Professions Code that pertains to freeway signs, has said he doubts that litigation would end, even if the Court of Appeal sided with the city. There would be numerous constitutional issues that would have to be decided, he said. And it’s still not clear that the city would end the litigation if it loses the case in a trial.

City officials have been under fire in recent months for allowing the city to become involved in numerous lawsuits, which have placed added burden on the city’s budget.