Lawsuit Is the Latest Controversy at Happy Valley Station Food Cart Pod

In planning the Happy Valley Station food cart pod in 2015, owner Valerie Hunter told Eater she was tired of all the big box national chain restaurants and wanted to offer something local, but after opening the pod in fall 2015—an getting county zoning laws revised to do so—she’s been caught in multiple controversies.

First, Happy Valley Station made the news for raising the rent for food carts by 150% around two months after opening. Now WWeek reports food cart owners Shanna Irvin and Melody Lydy have filed a lawsuit in Clackamas County against Happy Valley Station seeking damages worth $96,586.

Among the lawsuit’s allegations, Irvin and Lydy claim Hunter committed libel by communicating ill of them to other food cart owners, as well as temporarily would not let them retrieve their food carts when they tried to evacuate the venue after their lease had expired.

Irvin and Lydy operated Rose City Waffles and Frankly Delicious at Happy Valley Station, and and the lawsuit alleges the delay in relocating forced them to close the latter. (See a rough approximation of the full complaints on Irvin and Lydy’s GoFundMe page.)

Hunter tells WWeek all the lawsuit’s claims are untrue and that Happy Valley Station is countersuing Irvin and Lydy. In the meantime, Rose City Waffles has relocated to the Carts on Foster food cart pod.

• Happy Valley Station [Official]
• Rose City Waffles [Official Facebook]
• Happy Valley food cart owners get 150% rent hike [KGW]
• Food Cart Sues Happy Valley Station Cart Pod Claiming Owner Held Cart Hostage, Libeled Cart Owner [WWeek]
• All Previous Happy Valley Station Coverage [EPDX]