Angels, Anaheim will return to court June 20

The Angels and the city of Anaheim are scheduled to return to court June 20 for the latest and perhaps last round in the city’s 3-year-old challenge to the team’s name change.

The state appellate court will then have 90 days to decide whether, as the city claims, Orange County Superior Court Judge Peter Polos issued improper rulings that significantly influenced a jury’s 2005 finding that the Angels’ addition of Los Angeles to their name did not violate their stadium lease. The jury decided the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim name satisfied a clause requiring the team name to “include the name Anaheim therein.”

If the appellate court supports the city’s view, according to Anaheim attorney Michael Rubin, the court could order a new trial. The appellate court also could rule that the jury verdict would have been different but for Polos’ rulings, Rubin said, in which case the Superior Court could be ordered to award financial damages and/or overturn the name change.

If the appeal is denied, the matter would end, barring an unlikely appeal to the California Supreme Court.