Anaheim and Angels Tag First Base in Talks : City and Ball Team Dispense With One of 6 Lawsuits Over Stadium Parking and Services

As the Angels and the Milwaukee Brewers struggled into extra innings Monday night at Anaheim Stadium, officials from the team and the City of Anaheim struggled, too.

By the time the Angels pushed across a run in the 11th inning to win the game 3 to 2, the baseball club had hashed out an agreement on one of the six lawsuits it has filed against the city. On Tuesday, the suit was formally dropped.

Calling it a “very significant first step,” Anaheim Mayor Don Roth said he is optimistic that the agreement will be the catalyst to settling “the whole thing shortly.”

Optimism All Around

The “whole thing” to which Roth referred began two years ago as a dispute over who has control of the Anaheim stadium parking lot. The Angels, in an effort to preserve parking space, sued the city to block construction of a $200-million, high-rise office project on a portion of the lot. Additional suits followed, including two filed in the past week.

Angels Vice President Mike Schreter Tuesday echoed Roth’s optimism concerning other pending lawsuits.

The settlement, he said, covered “an inch in a mile-long list of problems, but it’s an inch in the right direction.” Schreter said he expects the city and the Angels to come to an agreement on one of the other lawsuits within the next two weeks. He would not say which one.

Monday night’s agreement involves the “services lawsuit,” in which the team and the city disputed who was to pay for a variety of security and crowd control services at the stadium.

In the settlement, Schreter and City Manager William Talley agreed to have the Angels pay $61,989 for the disputed services rendered last year, while the city picked up the tab for this year. Both parties agreed to pay their own attorney fees. Talley said that payment for the services after this year has yet to be negotiated.

The suit was filed Aug. 23, 1984, and set to go to trial Sept. 23. The disagreement stemmed from a March, 1984, letter informing the Angels that the city either would eliminate or charge for security and crowd control services, such as a police officer in each dugout, a standby ambulance, and box office and locker room security.

Angels attorney Don Morrow said the Angels had previously received the services as part of their contract. Attorneys for the ball team said the city’s decision to cut costs by cutting the services translated to retaliation against the Angels after they filed their first lawsuit in August, 1983.

Meanwhile, the original dispute over the parking lot is scheduled for a mandatory settlement conference in Orange County Superior Court on Aug. 9.

All the other lawsuits pending between the the Angels and the city stem from the parking lot lawsuit.

In the most recent suit, filed Monday, the Angels seek to recoup some of the extra revenue the city has been collecting from the 1980 addition of 27,000 seats to the outfield portion of the stadium. The suit demands repayment of $52,000 in concession money and $37,000 for rent, Morrow said.

Last week, the Angels sued City Manager Talley, accusing him of “falsely and fraudulently” indicating to the prospective developers of the parking-lot office complex “that the Angels’ lease did not mean what it said.”

Nothing But Praise

Talley said Tuesday that the suit filed against him is personal. “It has affected me emotionally and professionally, and I will deal with it,” he said.

Like other city officials, Talley Tuesday spoke in optimistic tones after the City Council unanimously agreed to accept the services-suit settlement.

In contrast to the harsh words between Talley and Angels officials in the past months, the city manager had nothing but praise for the Angels on Tuesday.

Describing the negotiations as “24 hours of very intense efforts,” Talley said that “the credit should go to the Angels.”