YOUNGSTOWN — U.S. District Court Judge Benita Y. Pearson has ruled in favor of Eastern Gateway Community College’s request for a preliminary injunction, stopping USA Parking from continuing to operate the parking garage at the college.

The judge issued a ruling last week after hearing from several witnesses in a lawsuit filed by USA Parking systems of Cleveland against the community college.

Eastern Gateway bought the building at 101 E. Federal St., which it uses for classrooms and parking, from Master Funding of Columbus on April 8, 2020.

For years, USA Parking has operated the parking garage, which spans five floors with about 1,000 parking spaces.

When Eastern Gateway bought the building, it decided it no longer needed USA Parking to operate the garage and notified USA Parking its services would end Aug. 31, 2020.

But USA Parking refused to stop collecting parking fees and operating the garage, and the community college notified USA Parking on Sept. 1 that it was no longer permitted to enter the parking garage effective that date.

As of Nov. 2, USA Parking continued to refuse to stop collecting fees from customers, a filing by the college states.

USA Parking filed a breach of contract suit against Eastern Gateway in federal court Sept. 1 and asked for a preliminary injunction and monetary damages.

But EGCC then asked for its own preliminary injunction, which Judge Pearson approved, ordering USA Parking to stop operating the parking garage, stop restricting or threatening to restrict the community college and/or parking tenants from having access to the parking garage and to otherwise stop interfering with parking tenant relations.

USA Parking told parking tenants to make payments to USA Parking rather than to an escrow account, but most parking tenants stopped doing that, a community college filing states.

Judge Pearson also ordered USA Parking to turn over records to EGCC related to the operation of the parking garage, including rent rolls, swipe cards and contact information for all parkers. USA Parking had refused to do these things earlier.

BACKGROUND

USA Parking’s lawsuit cited a 2014 management agreement between USA Parking and HEP-EGCC Ohio of Wilmington, Del. that USA Parking believed gave USA Parking the right to continue to operate the parking garage another 14 years.

USA Parking previously operated the parking garage under an agreement with HEP-EGCC Ohio, but Eastern Gateway did not sign the agreement and is not a party to that agreement, the community college stated in its filing.

USA Parking stated that the community college wanted to begin using a part of the 101 E. Federal St. property for the community college and entered into an agreement with HEP EGCC May 1, 2012, to allow that to happen.

In 2014, a USA Parking affiliate called USA Plaza Parking leased a portion of the 101 E. Federal St. property to HEP. The community college then began operating the college there.

In 2014 the college and USA Plaza Parking worked out a deal whereby HEP would buy the property for a reduced price of $3 million and USA Parking would be allowed to operate the parking deck for 20 years. The transaction was completed April 16, 2014.

INJUNCTION

Judge Pearson stated in her preliminary injunction ruling that, at the time USA Parking signed a management agreement with HEP to operate the parking garage in 2014, USA Parking “expressly agreed and acknowledged that it had no possessory or real estate interest in the parking garage.”

The language in the management agreement “makes it clear that the parties did not intend for the rights bestowed by the management agreement to run with the land,” the judge stated.

Ohio Attorney General David Yost is listed as the attorney for the community college, but several attorneys from the Akron law firm Brennan, Manna & Diamond are also listed as “special counsel” for the community college.

erunyan@tribtoday.com