IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
Los Angeles attorneys went to court Tuesday and defended the city’s ownership of Ontario International Airport, arguing against claims by Ontario that the agreement that gave control of the airport to Los Angeles should be voided.
The attorneys told Riverside County Superior Court Judge Gloria Connor Trask that even if the agreements could be voided the statue of limitations for taking such an action expired in 1989, according to a report in The Press-Enterprise.
Ontario filed a lawsuit in 2013 seeking to get control of Ontario International away from Los Angeles. The city maintains that Los Angeles World Airports neglected the Ontario International for the sake of Los Angeles International Airport, LAWA’s other major property.
Ontario is trying to overturn a lower court ruling that upheld Los Angeles’ statute-of-limitations claim.
Although it has crept up recently, passenger traffic at Ontario International during the past five years dropped to levels it hadn’t experienced since the mid-1980s. LAWA has blamed that on the recession.
A 1967 Joint Powers Agreement gave LAWA control of Ontario International.
Ontario’s claims of a flawed agreement rest in part on two improper actions taken by Ontario: in 1967, it did not properly inform the public of its plans to turn over control of the airport, and in 1985 it avoided a required referendum before the facility was sold, the report stated.
Ontario has three breach-of-contract claims outstanding against LAWA. Trial on those claims is scheduled to start Aug. 17.
