Summit Media LLC v. City of Los Angeles

*924 Opinion

SUMMARY

This is a dispute among several outdoor advertising companies and the City of Los Angeles over certain billboards with digital displays, and over the city’s authority to settle with two of those companies on terms that permitted them to digitize many of their existing billboards, even though a municipal ordinance expressly prohibited “alterations or enlargements” of such signs. A third company filed this suit for a writ of mandate ordering the city to set aside the settlement agreement and withdraw all permits issued under it. The trial court found the settlement agreement was illegal and void, because it allowed the alteration of billboards in violation of municipal ordinances. But the trial court declined to revoke permits that had been issued pursuant to the agreement, concluding permit revocation was an administrative issue for determination on an individual basis.

We affirm the trial court’s order finding the settlement agreement void, but conclude the court also must order revocation of all digital conversion permits granted under the illegal settlement agreement.

FACTS

In August 2008, Summit Media LLC (plaintiff) sought a writ of mandate ordering…