PASADENA, Texas—Today, a new billboard was erected on Red Bluff Road, across from Red Bluff Elementary School, calling on city officials to let auto mechanic Oz Sepulveda open his one-man shop on Shaver Street, more than 1,000 days after the city agreed to do so in response to a court order finding that the city was violating the Texas Constitution. This is the latest effort by Oz and his attorneys from the Institute for Justice (IJ) to get the city to abide by a settlement agreement it reached with Oz in May 2022.
The billboard features a quote from City Councilman Thomas Schoenbein, who recently told The Texan that he felt the city’s attorneys were keeping the city council in the dark about Oz needing to file a second lawsuit just to get the city to abide with the settlement and let Oz open his shop. The quote reads: “Let [Oz] get his life back, let the city quit wasting taxpayer dollars on it.”
“Councilman Schoenbein is absolutely right that it’s past time for the city to hold up its end of the bargain and let Oz open his shop,” said IJ Senior Attorney Diana Simpson. “We’re approaching three years since the city agreed to let Oz open his small business, yet his shop still remains vacant for no good reason. Every day that the city stubbornly refuses to abide by its word harms Oz. It also hurts the city’s reputation—why would anyone else running a business trust the city to keep its word after seeing how Oz has been treated?”
Oz first sued the city in December 2021, challenging a law that would have required him to have 28 parking spots before he could open his Shaver Street shop. However, Oz has no need for that many spots and the lot cannot physically fit them. The city’s mandatory minimum parking requirement violates the Texas Constitution, as a court recognized when it blocked the city from using this law against Oz. In May 2022, the city agreed to settle the case, allowing Oz to open without 28 parking spots. But the city went back on its word, refusing to let Oz open
Oz tried to resolve the issue out of court, but the city continued to refuse, leading Oz to file a breach of contract lawsuit in September 2023, and also additional constitutional violations. Rather than defend its actions in Harris County District Court, the city claimed immunity from its own settlement agreement, which a judge rejected, calling the tactics “bad public policy” and “very, very sad in some respects.” The city continues to delay, depriving Oz from earning a living and exercising his property rights, by racking up the bill with a meritless appeal claiming it is immune from the settlement agreement. Oz’s Shaver Street shop remains closed.