Court victory for gas station owner fighting Shell

Now this is the definition of populist activism.  A man by the name of Mehdi Shahbazi owns a Shell gas station in Marina, California.  The problem?  Ever since the oil companies gouged Americans following hurricane Katrina, he has been handing out fliers to his customers telling them never to get gasoline from big oil companies.  Shell learned of this, and immediately shut down the pumps at his station.  After erecting an anti-big oil sign, Shell tried to evict him.  So the two sides went to court over it.

Yesterday he won a huge victory at a federal court in San Jose:

U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel earlier this month denied ShellOil's request for a preliminary injunction aimed at forcing Shahbazi toleave his station on Del Monte Boulevard.

The ruling means that the bizarre, nationally publicized siege atMarina Shell could continue for months -- perhaps years -- as the caseis litigated.

At issue is whether Shahbazi, 63, broke his franchise agreement topromote the product last fall when he passed out fliers and erected twolarge signs outside his station attacking Big Oil -- and advocated aboycott of all stations owned by oil companies.

Although he can no longer sell gas -- Shell has cut off his fuelsupplies -- Shahbazi is still operating his mini-mart and car wash, andsympathetic customers patronize the station to support him.

``I'm going to continue keeping the station open as many hours as Ican. I will keep fighting until I die,'' Shahbazi said Wednesday. ``Iwasn't surprised at the decision. Judge Fogel is a very fair judge.''

Colin West, a San Francisco attorney who is representing Shell inthe case, said he also wasn't surprised because ``preliminaryinjunctions are very hard to get.'' But he expressed confidence thatShell would win the case on the merits when it comes to trial.

Since November, the pumps at Shahbazi's station have been surroundedby chain-link fences, installed as part of an environmental upgradeproject. Shell refused to take them down after the work was finished.

(full article here)

This man has lost more than $1 million worth of real estate because of his passion for this issue:

Shahbazi is also going broke because of a long-running battle withShell Oil. He just lost his $1 million Carmel condo. The pumps at hisbeloved gas station in Marina have been fenced off. The beer cooler inhis mini-mart is empty because he can't pay suppliers. He's living inhis minivan.

Well good luck to this guy.  If any of you are ever down in Marina, California, pay this true American a visit.  Here is the address of the Shell station:

3030 Del Monte Blvd
Marina, CA 93933-3803
(831) 384-8471

And here is a map for how to get there.  Show Shahbazi some support.  He needs it -- the man has the weight of a multi-billion dollar oil company on his shoulders.

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Other blogs writing about this issue: Cool Blue, OSNN Forum, A Day in Norman's Shoes.