Berkeley U-Haul to Stay Open While Awaiting Lawsuit Resolution

The Daily Californian

By Asaf Shalev

December 7, 2007

A truck rental center that was ordered to close almost three months ago by the Berkeley City Council is remaining open while it challenges the decision in court.

City council members unanimously voted on Sept. 19 to revoke the zoning permit of the U-Haul center on San Pablo Avenue. Residents and city code enforcers have long accused the center of frequently parking its trucks on the street and cluttering its lot beyond capacity. The business has been fined a total of $22,900 since 1997.

A provision in the council’s decision allowed the company to challenge the closure in court within 30 days. U-Haul sued on Oct. 19 and the Alameda County Superior Court issued an injunction that allows the center to stay open until the lawsuit is settled.

According to Aran Wong, an attorney for U-Haul, the center has not been cited for parking its trucks on the street during the past year. He also said the original agreement between U-Haul and the city does not limit the capacity of the property.

Deputy City Attorney Laura McKinney said she is confident the court will uphold the council’s decision in light of the many code violations.

"It’s not unusual for a judge to grant a stay under these circumstances,” she said. “We made the argument that keeping open a public nuisance is detrimental to the city.”

But Wong said the benefits of having a truck rental center in the city outweigh the costs.

"U-Haul acknowledges that there have been conflicts with neighbors in the past,” he said. “The court is going to look at the effect on the city.”

In a written statement, Jeremy Frank, a district vice president for U-Haul, said the company is working “to come up with a solution in order to amicably resolve all issues.”

Wong said the U-Haul center is currently making improvements to address the city’s complaints. From now on, people returning trucks will not be allowed to park on the street while waiting for U-Haul employees to finish with previous customers.

However, McKinney said that because the improvements were made since Sept. 19, they are inadmissible in court as evidence of cooperation with the city.

If the improvements were made beforehand, the city would have no reason to rescind U-Haul’s permit, she said.

Wong said the improvements are being made in an attempt to improve relations with neighbors regardless of the court’s ruling.

"We would apply for a new permit to do new things on the site,” he said. “There are a whole lot of concessions we can give to the city.”

Among those concessions might be a new permit with more and clearer restrictions, Wong said.

Several U-Haul centers in California, including the one in Berkeley, have recently ended a legal battle over customers’ personal information on receipts. The plaintiff in the case claimed that U-Haul receipts illegally contained more than five digits of his credit card number.

Farris Ain, who is representing the plaintiff, said the lawsuit ended when the a federal district court denied the case’s class-action certification.

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