Frontiere Says She Knew No Details of Rams’ Stadium Deal

Georgia Frontiere, owner of the Los Angeles Rams, knew nothing about the provisions of the deal that brought her football team to Anaheim, either before or after the death of her husband, Carroll Rosenbloom, she testified Thursday in Orange County Superior Court.

Frontiere was questioned for more than two hours in the lengthy trial of Golden West Baseball Co. versus Anaheim. The trial involves a $100-million lawsuit filed by the owners of the Angels baseball team against the City of Anaheim and Anaheim Stadium Associates, a development partnership that includes Rosenbloom’s heirs.

During the trial, which began in early December and is expected to end in May, the Angels’ attorneys have charged that Anaheim officials consciously violated their contract with the Angels when they wooed the Rams to Orange County in 1978.

Anaheim had to promise the Rams the development rights to the stadium parking lot to get the football club to move there, Angels attorney William Campbell said early in the trial. On Thursday, Frontiere told the court that she had no knowledge of the deal’s details.

“I was not involved in the behind-the-scenes (maneuvering) of any of this,” Frontiere said. “I expected to turn around one day and the buildings would be built.”

In response to Campbell’s questions, Frontiere said she could not recall seeing or reading documents that trace the history of Anaheim’s legal relationships with the Rams and the Angels.

Frontiere has been the general partner of Anaheim Stadium Associates since last June, but when asked about the associates’ partnership agreement, she said: “I have probably seen it. It was something I had to sign. I probably didn’t read it.”

The Angels filed the lawsuit in 1983 to halt development of the Stadium Center, a multimillion-dollar office development planned for 20 acres of the stadium parking lot. Angels officials contend that any development of the lot must be approved by them first.

Much of the questioning Thursday went as follows:

Campbell: “Do you recall if it would be necessary for the Angels to give approval” for development of the parking lot?

Frontiere: “It never occurred to me as any problem. . . . “

Campbell: “Did it ever come to your attention in 1979 or 1980 that a dispute had arisen between the Angels and the city with respect to whether the Angels had the right to OK development of the parking lot?”

Frontiere: “No.”

She never contacted Angels owner Gene Autry or other baseball club officials to see if they had objections to the deal. “I assumed everything was going on as planned,” she said.