Boathouse Eviction Proceeding

By Teresa Rochester

Jan. 15 -- The City’s efforts to oust its long time tenant, the Boathouse restaurant, from the pier to make room for a Bubba Gump restaurant were bolstered Tuesday morning following a decision by a Superior Court judge.

Judge Rex Mintner reversed a decision he made in December that halted the City’s eviction proceedings until a suit filed by the Boathouse against the City, Pier Restoration Corporation (PRC) was settled in Federal Court.

“I find this a very difficult case,” Mintner said. “I went back and forth, back and forth last night.”

Mintner changed his mind after hearing arguments from a deputy city attorney that the eviction case and the Federal Court case dealt with different issues and that the Superior Court did not have the authority to halt the eviction.

“The only issue here that we have argued is if the City is entitled to argue for its rights,” said Deputy City Attorney Tony Serritella. “This matter is not in Federal Court and will never be in Federal Court.”

Serritella argued that by holding up eviction proceedings the City is being denied its right to turn over the high profile property to the new leaseholder, Paramount-owned Bubba Gump Shrimp, Co., which was selected by the PRC and approved by the City Council after a long process last year.

Boathouse attorney Kelly Bixby countered that the case he filed in Federal Court is directly linked to the eviction case because the federal case claims that the restaurant’s owners were told they could stay on the pier.

Bixby argued that the City went against its law blocking chain businesses. He also alleged that the PRC “used various means to oust my clients the Boathouse.”

“The issue is possession and that is in both [Federal and Superior Court] actions under equal protection,” Bixby said outside the West Los Angeles Superior Court House after the hearing. “If the [City’s] policies were followed we would have had a right to possession.”

Bixby said his clients would take action in both the Federal Court and Superior Court to keep possession of the restaurant’s site.

Whether or not the Boathouse will be evicted from the old wooden building it has occupied for half a century will be determined by a jury in what Bixby predicts will be a lengthy trial.

The Boathouse’s 20-year lease expired in 1998 and its owners entered into a written agreement with the City that the lease would go month-to-month and would expire when another tenant was selected, Serritella said before the hearing.

The Boathouse, which had pitched a motorcycle-themed restaurant during the bidding process, filed its suit in Federal Court last August shortly after they received a letter from the City ordering them to vacate the site to make way for Bubba Gump.

“They believe they’re entitled to preferential treatment,” Serritella said last week. “They are alleging they were given assurance that they could stay. We don’t believe that.”

During Tuesday’s court hearing Bixby promised to produce proof that his clients were indeed promised that they could stay. He said the Federal Case alleges that the Sheffield family, which owns the Boathouse, was discriminated against by the City and the PRC.

“We’re saying we as an existing tenant have been discriminated against by the City in its choosing of a formula restaurant,” Bixby said.

In December, the City’s attempt to throw out the Boathouse suit on First Amendment charges was denied in part and upheld in part by a Federal judge.

The City also filed a second motion to have a judge decide whether the Boathouse can continue with an amended suit it filed against the City and be entitled to damages. A decision is likely this month.