Angels Claim Anaheim Can’t Justify Fast Appeal

The city of Anaheim cannot justify emergency intervention from an appellate court after waiting five weeks to ask, the Angels argued in a court filing Wednesday.

The city last week asked the state appellate court to order the Angels to drop Los Angeles from their name until a jury can decide whether the name violates the team’s stadium lease. Orange County Superior Court Judge Peter Polos twice has refused that request, most recently on Jan. 21.

The city has filed a petition for writ, essentially asking to jump to the head of the appeals line because its cause is so urgent. In response, the Angels claim the five-week delay in filing “belies any urgency.”

The petition represents the city’s last chance to stop the team from opening the season as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The city hopes for a decision within two weeks.

Such petitions rarely succeed, in part because the court must be convinced that the standard appeals process is insufficient. The city plans to file a standard appeal, but it might not be heard for months. The trial itself is set to start Nov. 7.

The city contends it wouldn’t have paid $20 million for stadium renovations without an understanding the Anaheim name would be featured prominently.

The Angels counter that the city did not pay to name the team but did get “quite a bargain” for its contribution -- Disney paid the other $98 million in renovations and signed a 20-year lease to keep the Angels in “the city’s own aging stadium” one year after it had been abandoned by the NFL’s Rams.

The Angels also claim Anaheim’s key evidence -- a declaration by then-Angel president Tony Tavares that fully supports the city’s position -- cannot be considered by the appellate court because it was not submitted by the Jan. 21 hearing that spurred the appeal.