# 1305816, Lisa Harwin v. Kandarp & Daksha Oza, filed 2/24/09

Plaintiff’s Attorney: Martin P. Cohn and Raymond W. Rengo

Verdict: Right to Park & Permanent Injunction             Court Trial Dept. 4

Plaintiff and Defendants were neighboring property owners in Goleta with numerous tenants renting their respective commercial spaces and utilizing parking available on both locations. Defendants demanded market rate rent from Plaintiff’s tenants for parking spaces and prevented access unless payment was received.  Court granted Plaintiff’s TRO and later ruled at trial that the common grantor of both properties was required by the County to dedicate parking spaces for the benefit of Plaintiff’s tenants in order to allow for a lot line adjustment, with no reference having been made to charging tenants at market rate.  Defendants maintained they would have never purchased the property from the grantor if they could not charge tenants for parking. Court also found that Plaintiff’s tenants had acquired prescriptive easement to park at Defendant’s property location based on open, notorious, hostile use for the statutory period.