JACUMBA – Motorists zipping along Interstate 8 might give a quick glance at the four billboards rising from the desert brush, advertising food stops or gas stations.
But for Derik Martin of El Cajon, who owns the site near Jacumba where the billboards sit, and for Lamar Advertising, the company that sells the ads, the billboards have become a bitter point of contention.
Martin says the company is trying to cheat him and is upset that a lawsuit has been filed against him. An attorney for Lamar Advertising says the company is only trying to protect the billboards that have been on the property for 39 years.
Martin said he is ready to have Lamar remove the billboards.
“I just want them to drop their stupid lawsuit and get off my land,” Martin said.
Martin bought the 175 acres – and the billboards that came with the acreage – in February 2005. He uses the land for short getaways, and said he wants to build a home there one day.
Soon after Martin obtained the property, he called Lamar Advertising to talk about lease payments for the signs.
He was offered $4,200 a year, and after consulting with a friend in the advertising business, decided that wasn't a fair price. Lamar balked when Martin asked to be paid $3,000 a month.
The company filed a lawsuit October, claiming Martin was interfering with its business and seeking unspecified punitive damages.
Last week, a judge set a trial date of Oct. 6.
“They're bullying me,” Martin said. “That's what the lawsuit is.”
Theodore Stream, who represents Lamar, says the company filed the lawsuit after efforts to reach a deal with Martin failed.
“We've tried to work out a reasonable arrangement with him,” Stream said. “We would like to pay him the reasonable rental value of our property or just take our signs and go home.”
If the billboards are taken down, they won't be going back up again. The state Department of Transportation, which issues permits for billboards along interstates, only allows billboards near businesses.
The billboards on Martin's property are allowed to remain because they already were in place when current laws went into effect.
The billboards have been on the property since 1967 when they were installed by a company that had a lease with the former owner. Lamar bought the billboards in 1998, but by then, the land had changed hands several times.
In 2000, Lamar sent a couple of $100 checks to the woman who owned the property, along with a proposal for a 10-year lease, but she never cashed the checks or responded to the offer.
Stream said Lamar's offer of $350 a month to Martin is reasonable, considering that the company receives $1,867.50 a month for the billboards and pays out half that for insurance, permits, maintenance and other costs.
Lamar has a $92 annual permit from Caltrans for the billboards, but Martin said he believes the permit is invalid because he never gave his consent for the signs.
Edward Cartagena, a Caltrans spokesman, said Caltrans is not getting involved in the dispute.
“We're hanging out in the wings, waiting to find out what agreement they come to,” Cartagena said.
Stream said Martin was aware the billboards were on the property when he purchased it. Lamar owns the billboards and has the legal right to have them there, he said.
“It is his property, but you can get permission to put things on people's property,” Stream said.
Martin said $5,000 has been spent on attorneys fees to defend himself in the lawsuit.
And he said there's no amount of money Lamar could offer him now.
“I will never, ever have a deal with them at this point,” he said.
Anne Krueger: (619) 593-4962; anne.krueger@uniontrib.com
