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An Orange County Superior Court Judge sided with the OC Fairgrounds in a ruling last week, finding that Equestrian Center staff are allowed to remove occupants who don’t hold a valid contract.
It’s the newest update in a months-long battle between equestrians and the OC Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa, which features a public horse boarding facility where owners store their horses and business owners operate riding lessons.
In March, the OC Fair & Event Center Board of Directors narrowly approved a rent spike that many equestrians claimed they wouldn’t be able to afford — especially since the OC Equestrian Center is one of the few remaining public facilities in the region.
The rent hike was part of a revamped rental agreement that was rolled out earlier this year.
A group of equestrians refused to sign the contract, claiming it wasn’t fair to business owners who had been there for years and featured flaws that needed correcting.
[Read: OC Equestrian Center Rent Hikes Start This Week as Tension Mounts]
Under one part of the updated agreement, some business owners who give lessons at the center would be facing thousands of dollars in deposits.
In late June, all boarders who didn’t sign the contract were served with 30-day notices to sign or leave the property.
After 30 days passed, fairgrounds staff locked up access to arenas, turnout spaces and round pens at the center on Aug. 1.
These facilities — which are used to exercise horses and allow them to run and walk freely outside their stalls — were made available only to the boarders who signed the contract.
In response, equestrians protested outside the fairgrounds the same day as thousands attended the OC Fair.
[Read: Concerns Mount About Horses Held Hostage at OC Fairgrounds]
Closing certain areas of the Equestrian Center prompted a lawsuit that claimed equestrians are tenants in the center and fairgrounds staff broke the law by locking them out of areas dire to the horses’ health.
In September, Orange County Superior Court Judge Sheila Recio granted a temporary restraining order, forcing OC Fair & Event Center staff to unlock the facilities for equestrians who were locked out of these areas for about a month.
[Read: Judge Orders OC Fairgrounds Staff to Reopen Equestrian Center]
But in her new ruling last Friday, she sided with the fairgrounds, agreeing that equestrians are not tenants and the rental agreement is not technically considered a lease.
“The court finds that Petitioners have not shown that they are likely to prevail on the merits,” reads a document included with the court’s final ruling. “Nor does the court find that Petitioners have submitted sufficient evidence to show sufficient harm outweighing the harm to opposing party.”
The lawsuit was filed in late August by two equestrians who run nonprofits out of the center — Gibran Stout, president of OC Vaulting, and Lisa Sabo, president of Changing Strides.
“The true intent of OCFEC is to eliminate the OC Equestrian Center altogether by pricing out tenants in order to make room for more profitable business operations,” reads the original complaint against the fairgrounds.
An appeal was filed to the court on Wednesday, according to the Orange County Superior Court document portal.
Angelina Hicks is a Voice of OC Tracy Wood Reporting Fellow. Contact her at ahicks@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @angelinahicks13
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