Hudson Sign Lawsuit Settled

The long saga of the La Grange Subway Shop sign will come to an end this week.

La Grange City Manager Shawn Raborn reported the City reached a settlement with the estate of Tom Hudson, the late owner of the La Grange Subway who unexpectedly died last summer, and Hudson’s company Jator, Inc.

Hudson had been fighting the City’s ban on electronic message signs starting in 2016, when he erected such a sign at his business. The City ticketed Hudson several times for ordinance violations regarding the sign. In 2017 he pleaded no contest to one of the tickets and appealed the case to County Court.

He also sued the City in District Court, alleging numerous violations by the City in denying him a permit for the sign. Both cases were pending in court when Hudson died in an accident at his property on Sept. 19, 2021.

A hearing in Hudson’s lawsuit was set for April 29 of this year. Shortly before the hearing, City Attorney Angela Beck said in a letter to the City Council that Hudson’s estate agreed to take down the sign. In addition, Beck said she filed a motion in County Court case to dismiss the appeal since Hudson had died. The order of dismissal was signed by Bastrop County Judge Paul Fisher, who was appointed to the case after Fayette County Judge Joe Weber recused himself.

“With the entry of these two orders, all matters between Mr. Hudson or his estate or Jator and the City of La Grange have been concluded,” Beck wrote in the letter.