Angels Seek Jury Trial in Anaheim Suit : Judge to Rule On Whether Panel Will Be Seated in Case

After more than two years of legal work and anticipation, a lawsuit by the California Angels against the City of Anaheim and developers reached a courtroom Monday in an almost anticlimatic half-hour hearing.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Frank D. Domenichini said he will decide by Friday whether the case will be tried by a jury. Attorneys representing the ball club requested a jury, while attorneys for the city asked for a non-jury trial.

“We feel that it’s a waste of time,” said Mike Rubin, an attorney for Anaheim.

Because the litigation involves a 1964 contract signed by the Angels and the city, Rubin said, the interpretation of that contract ultimately will be by a judge and not a jury. The $100-million lawsuit against Anaheim also seeks “equitable remedy”--in this case, the court’s power to halt development on part of the Anaheim Stadium parking lot, he said.

Breach of Contract Claimed

Attorney Bill Campbell, representing the Angels, said the case involves breach of contract. “We’re confident we’ll be able to demonstrate the City of Anaheim has breached its lease agreement . . . . Anaheim Stadium Associates (the developers) induced that breach. Those are both very clearly jury issues,” Campbell said.

The dispute centers on who has rights to the Anaheim Stadium parking lot. Angels officials say their 1964 lease guarantees them at least 12,000 spaces of surface parking and approval of any “reduction or diminutions” of facilities. City officials say they will increase, not decrease, parking, and they point to a clause in the contract that grants Anaheim, which owns the land, “exclusive control.”

The Angels dispute the purpose of that clause and insist they will not stay in Anaheim if office towers are built as planned.

Angels owner Gene Autry sued Anaheim on Aug. 8, 1983, to halt development of four high-rise office towers and four multilevel parking structures on 20 acres facing Orangewood Avenue as well as yet unspecified construction on another 48 acres of the parking lot facing State College Boulevard.

The proposed development was part of the agreement that brought the Los Angeles Rams to Anaheim.

An attorney for the developer asked the judge Monday to review the contention by his clients and the city that the “Angels refused to negotiate in good faith” before filing suit, said William W. Wynder, an attorney for the Angels. But Wynder pointed to a provision in the 1981 amended lease agreement in which both sides acknowledged “a good-faith dispute” and said they would “in good faith attempt to agree upon plans and specifications for such modified parking facilities.”

To the Angels, the motion Monday to first review the clause in the 1981 lease agreement is “to try the case backwards,” said Campbell, who disagreed that the “good-faith” issue could be resolved quickly.

By the time the trial begins--with or without a jury--the parties will have five or six file cabinets for evidence placed in the courtroom as well as additional chairs for their respective attorneys. With the presence of up to seven attorneys, “it might be a little crowded,” Judge Domenichini said.

The trial is estimated to take about 60 court days.

Attorneys said they expect their witnesses to include Autry, City Manager William O. Talley and former mayors, such as Rex Coons and state Sen. John Seymour (R-Anaheim).