TEXARKANA, Ark.–Whataburger has pushed back this week on Party Factory liquor store’s bid in a state court lawsuit to reclaim land it says the fast food chain improperly built concrete pillars on, blocking a drive-thru route thirsty customers have used since the 1980s.
Party Factory — which adjoins Whataburger’s property on the Arkansas side of State Line Avenue — sued its neighbor earlier this month, accusing the burger joint of installing concrete traffic control poles known as bollards on the liquor store’s land. Party Factory’s lawsuit alleges that business is down because its drive-thru customers can’t circle around the building and exit the same way they have since the early 1980s.
The two businesses operated side-by-side for years without conflict, the Party Factory said in its complaint. A series of land-use contracts between the property owners were never contested until this year when Whataburger renovated its store, repaved and rearranged its parking lot, according to Party Factory’s complaint.
Party Factory claims that it commissioned a professional land survey in July which shows that Whataburger built the concrete bollards on Party Factory land and that it has a “prescriptive easement” for drive-thru customers to exit the way they always have for more than 40 years.
Earlier this week, Whataburger’s lawyers filed an objection to Party Factory’s notice that it intends to obtain a writ of possession for the land at issue.
The Party Factory leases its land from the Oliver Family Trust and both are named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit against a couple of different Whataburger entities.
The case, filed last week in Miller County, has been assigned to Circuit Judge Brent Haltom. The Whataburger defendants filed objections on Monday and Tuesday to a writ of possession but have not yet filed a formal response to the Party Factory’s complaint.
