LA City Attorney’s Office Sues Van Wagner

In April, Los Angeles Chief Assistant City Attorney Jeffrey Isaacs and Deputy City Attorney Felton Newell filed a lawsuit against Van Wagner Communications LLC and the property owners where Van Wagner has installed 17 supergraphics located through Los Angeles that, according to the suit, violate the California Outdoor Advertising Act and city zoning and building codes. One sign specified in the civil-enforcement action is a parking structure at 240 W. Venice Blvd. The signs on this property cover three sides of the structure – exceeding 1,200 sq. ft. — and feature ads for Pepsi, Gatorade and Chase Bank.

According to the suit, Van Wagner lacked permits for the signs and ignored written orders from the Los Angeles Fire Dept. and Caltrans, California’s transportation authority, to remove the supergraphics. Other locations identified, from which displays have since been taken down, included a 12-story hotel on W. Ventura Blvd. and a four-story, public-storage facility on W. Santa Monica Blvd.

Van Wagner and the other defendants could face penalties of up to $5,000 per day per location. The attorney’s office argues such graphics, when improperly attached to buildings, may come loose and cause safety hazards.

According to the city attorneys’ suit, noncompliant signs that face freeways may incur fines of $10,000 per sign, plus an additional $100 per day per fine and disgorgement of gross revenue derived from the signs.
However, the signs were erected when the city’s original ban on supergraphics was under appeal, and Van Wagner, which sued to enjoin the city’s supergraphic ban in September 2008, was granted a stay in March 2009 and was allowed to retain the unpermitted signs. The city has continually refused to issue permits for any sign defined as a supergraphic.

Beginning in spring 2010, Van Wagner voluntarily took down 60 of its own supergraphics – which were code-compliant – in an effort to help the city develop off-premise sign regulations.

However, the company’s efforts didn’t engender mutual cooperation. Lisa Gritzner, a government liaison for Cerrell Assoc., a Los Angeles public-relations firm working on Van Wagner’s behalf, said, “The company has been blindsided by the action taken by the City Attorney’s office. Over the course of two and a half years, Van Wagner’s representatives have met with city officials approximately 100 times in an effort to create common-sense regulations for all types of signs. The company has received little cooperation in return. Rather than listen to representatives from the sign industry, the city has chosen to spend hundreds of thousands, if not a few million, dollars defending themselves.”

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She continued, “The city of Los Angeles spans 436 sq. mi., but the city only has three billboard inspectors. That’s not an effective ratio for enforcement, so those who try to abide by standards get lumped in with those who don’t. I think billboards are viewed as an easy target because there have been excesses.”

Gritzner said Van Wagner will soon file a response. Details about hearings and court dates haven’t yet been set.