SOUTH PADRE ISLAND – Today, the 13th Court of Appeals reversed a ruling denying the city of South Padre Island’s plea to the jurisdiction, dismissing a claim over food truck restrictions.
South Padre Island banned mobile food vendors from serving beachgoers until 2016. When the city allowed food truck entrepreneurs in, local restaurant owners complained. In response, the city council rewrote the ordinance and added two provisions, capping the number of food truck permits at 12 and requiring applicants to obtain the signature of a local restaurant owner.
Representing food truck vendors, the Institute for Justice sued the city, arguing the restrictions are unconstitutional and anticompetitive.
A district court struck down the city’s permit cap, court records show.
On appeal, the city argued that the city’s code is “reasonable and protects public health.”
Court records show the food truck vendors filed a response, asserting that they “simply want a fair opportunity to vend to customers on South Padre Island.”
The 13th Court held that the food truck vendors did present evidence on how they have been oppressed.
“Accordingly, based on the evidence presented, we conclude that appellees failed to present evidence tending to prove that the food truck ordinance violates their substantive-due-course-of-law rights and thus failed to show that they were likely to prevail on their request for a declaration that the ordinance violates their substantive-due-course-of-law rights under … the Texas Constitution,” the opinion states. “We find that appellees did not present evidence to rebut the presumption that the ordinance is constitutional.”
Appeals case No. 13-20-00536-CV