Food Truck Vendors Suing Monrovia Due Back in Court

Attorneys for the city of Monrovia and the Socal Mobile Food Vendors Association (SoCalMFVA) are due back in court in Los Angeles Wednesday for a status conference for a .

The SoCalMFVA filed suit against Monrovia after the City Council barred them from operating in Old Town in 2010. The group at the expense of mobile vendors.

SoCalMFVA is a nonprofit organization representing about 130 mobile vending companies. The organization called the city's ban on food trucks "a naked restraint of trade created solely to protect [Monrovia's] favored interests--certain fixed-location restaurants-- ... at the expense of association members who would otherwise seek to serve Monrovia consumers with a better product at a better price," according to the civil complaint signed by SoCalMFVA attorney Jeffrey Dermer.

After the ordinance passed in December of 2010, Councilman Tom Adams that it would be unfair to allow food trucks to operate in Old Town because they wouldn't have to pay taxes and fees to the Old Town Advisory Board merchants association.

"This is just trying to keep a certain ambiance in downtown and also recognize the contribution that brick and mortar businesses make that mobile food vendors don't make," Adams said of the ordinance. "To have someone say that they want to come and take advantage of that without contributing to it just doesn't pass the simple test of fairness," he said.