MEDFORD, Mass. -- Three gas stations shut down by the City of Medford, Mass., earlier this month have reopened for business after a Middlesex Superior Court judge ruled that closing the stations would cause irreparable harm to the business, reported The Boston Globe. Superior Court Justice Thomas Murtagh granted a preliminary injunction against the City of Medford, stating that withholding the station's license to sell and store gasoline and locking the pumps "has the effect of shutting down a major aspect of the plaintiff's business and threatens plaintiff's ability to [image-nocss] pay obligations and to function at all."
Medford City Solicitor Mark Rumsley acknowledged the order on Friday in a letter to attorney Joseph Spinale, who is representing station owner Jacqueline Eskanian, permitting him to "cut and remove" the wires locking the pumps at all three stations.
The King Petroleum stations reopened for business Friday afternoon, the report said, one week after the City Council voted to uphold City Clerk Edward Finn's decision not to renew their underground storage permit, citing unpaid taxes and fines as well as complaints from neighbors and customers. (Click here for previous CSP Daily News coverage.)
"The complaints just go on," Councilor Robert Penta said after the council's decision, according to the newspaper. "It's very insulting to the other businesses that are struggling and at the same time paying their taxes."
Eskanian, who took over the stations from her father in 2007, maintains that the council's decision was part of an ongoing effort by the city to drive her Lebanese family out of business.
"They did everything to slander the name of my business," she told the paper.
Eskanian filed a lawsuit in Middlesex Superior Court on March 8 listing the City of Medford, Finn and all seven city councilors as defendants. According to the suit, since taking over the day-to-day operations of the stations, Eskanian has remained current on all real estate taxes and developed a payment plan with the city treasurer to resolve all outstanding balances within two years. Any fines or fees related to alleged weights and measures violations have also been paid, the suit claims.
In granting a preliminary injunction in favor of Eskanian, Judge Murtagh cited the stations' "likelihood of success" as entitling its owner to enter into a payment plan with the city to pay off all outstanding debt. In denying Eskanian's proposed 24-month payment plan, and demanding full payment of all debts owed, the city violated the law, he said.
"The City's licensing authority has an obligation in good faith to consider and offer a reasonable payment arrangement to the plaintiff," he said.
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