City of Austin To Pay $360,000 Judgment To South Congress Cafe And Their Patio Of Woe And Strife

The City of Austin will pay $360,000 in attorneys' fees to Trudy's Texas Star Inc., which owns the South Congress Cafe, in the culmination of a six-year legal battle over the cafe's decision to build an outdoor deck without proper permits and city approval. Take it away, Statesman:

In the long legal battle, Trudy's did not dispute that it didn't secure the permits required to build the deck before starting construction.

But it argued that the city sometimes allows landowners who have built improvements without the required approvals and permits to obtain them retroactively and that it entered into what amounted to a legal obligation allowing Trudy's to do so.

· Austin To Pay $360,000 Judgment, Drop Legal Fight [Statesman]
· South Congress Cafe Dispute To Be Settled August 8 [-EATX-]

[Photo: South Congress Cafe/Official]