PASADENA, Texas—On Tuesday, the Court of Appeals for the First District of Texas overturned a lower court ruling and dismissed mechanic Oz Sepulveda’s lawsuit against the city of Pasadena for breach of contract. Oz, represented by the Institute for Justice (IJ), filed the breach of contract lawsuit in September 2023, more than a year after the city reached a settlement agreement in a separate lawsuit, to let him open his mechanic shop on Shaver Street. Oz will continue fighting to get his business open.
In yesterday’s decision, the appeals court ruled that even though the city had rejected Oz’s site plan and refused to let him open, the city’s decision wasn’t final enough. In order for Oz to pursue this lawsuit, the court claimed he needed to spend even more time and money asking the city for its opinion on whether he could open. All of this despite the fact that the city agreed to let him open his one-man auto repair shop 1,261 days ago, but has refused to honor its own settlement agreement since then and give him his permit.
“This is just the latest speed bump in a long fight to get my shop open,” said Oz. “But I’m not going to give up. I’m going to keep fighting until I can finally open my business.”
Oz and IJ first sued the city in December 2021, challenging a law that required Oz to add 23 new parking spots on his property before he could open his mechanic shop, even though Oz doesn’t need and cannot afford those spots, and the property cannot physically fit that many spots. Oz won an early victory when the court determined that the parking requirement was likely unconstitutional and prohibited the city from enforcing the requirement against him. Shortly on the heels of that, the city and Oz reached a settlement agreement in May 2022, allowing him to open without the additional parking spots. But ever since, the city has refused to honor its word.
“The city agreed to let Oz open more than 1,200 days ago, but instead of abiding by that agreement, it continues wasting time and money preventing a small business owner from opening for no good reason,” said IJ Senior Attorney Diana Simpson. “We’re currently evaluating our next steps, but one thing is for certain: we’ll continue to fight alongside Oz until justice prevails.”
In September 2023, Oz filed the second lawsuit challenging the city’s breach of its agreement with him. In May 2024, the lower court rejected the city’s attempt to have the lawsuit thrown out, calling the city’s actions “disappointing” and “bad public policy.” Nevertheless, the city appealed, leading to yesterday’s decision.
In February 2025 then City Councilman, now Mayor, Thomas Schoenbein told The Texan the city had not been briefed by its attorneys on Oz needing to file a second lawsuit. Schoenbein went on to say: “Instead of delay, delay, delay, we need to be transparent. In the Oz situation, let’s move on. Let this guy get his life back, let the city quit wasting taxpayer dollars on it.”
The mayor is right—the city should honor its word and let Oz open.