Facts

In 2000, the City of Los Angeles City Council passed the Billboard Interim Control Ordinance which prohibited the issuance of any new permits for billboards. In 2002, the ban became permanent and applied not only to the erection of new off-site signs, but to substantial renovation or alteration of existing signs. Off-site signs were permitted only under a specific plan. The City later established an Off-Site Inspection Program.

In 2002, Clear Channel and Viacom Outdoor Inc. filed a complaint against the City asserting that the Off-Site Sign Inspection Program was invalid. In 2006, the parties entered into a settlement, which granted Clear Channel exemption from the City's Sign Ban and the Program, and other zoning and building laws regulating off-site signs in the City.

In 2008, Summit Media LLC filed this petition seeking mandamus relief to set aside the 2006 Agreement between the City and the Clear Channel petitioners that compelled the City to issue permits for the digital conversion of up to 840 billboards. Summit asserted that the conversions violated the Sign Ban.

Result

Superior Court Judge Terry Green granted Summit's petition for writ of mandamus. Judge Green invalidated the agreement and ordered 99 digital billboards turned off.