Restraining order against city of Mission lifted

This article originally appeared in the Friday, April 26, 2019 issue of the Progress Times.

A district court judge lifted a restraining order against the city of Mission in an ongoing dispute with a local raspa stand.

139th District Judge Roberto “Bobby” Flores, ruled to lift the restraining order late last month after stopping the temporary injunction between the city of Mission and Snowball Express LLC, who was suing the city for enforcing its approved hours of operation.

“The Court, having considered the pleadings and arguments of counsel, finds that Plaintiff is not entitled to the injunctive relief requested, and that the application of Plaintiff for temporary injunction should be denied in its entirety,” court records state.

The restraining order was filed last February after Snowball Express owner Elgin Xavier accused the city of discrimination for “singling out his business” and not allowing both Mission locations to remain open past the previously approved 10 p.m. time.

With the restraining order still in place, neither parties could take any action until Flores made a ruling.

Xavier filed a lawsuit after the city granted a conditional use permit for the raspa stands last May to close at 10 p.m. despite requests from Xavier to extend it. City councilmembers cited noise complaints and traffic issue as the reason to deny the extension.

As previously reported, city police and the city planning department came to both locations within one weekend in late March 2018 at around 10:30 p.m. and forced the stand to close for the night with a line of customers waiting for their order.

According to city Planning and Zoning Director Jaime Acevedo, the closures occurred because the raspa stand was in violation of its permit signed by Xavier that stated both locations’ drive-thru window wouldn’t extend their hours past 10 p.m.

Flores ruled on March 4 to leave the restraining order in place until March 25 after researching similar cases before acting on it.

“Though the court denied the injunction, the case is still pending,” Robert L. Galligan, a lawyer representing the city, said.

With the restraining order lifted, the city can continue to enforce its hours on Snowball Express.

No court date for the lawsuit had been scheduled as of press time.