Court Reduces Clippers’ $500,000 Award From San Diego Sports Arena to $35,000

An appeal court Friday reversed the major portion of a 1984 San Diego Superior Court decision ordering the operator of the Sports Arena to pay the Clippers more than $500,000 in damages because the building was structurally unfit for professional basketball.

In a 22-page legal brief, the 4th District Court of Appeal ruled that the National Basketball Assn. team, which played at the arena for six years before moving to Los Angeles in 1984, should receive only about $35,000 of the original award.

The appellate court agreed that operators of the Sports Arena failed to keep the facility in adequate condition, as required by their contract with the Clippers. But the three-judge panel reversed the bulk of the original Superior Court decision, primarily because the team failed to adequately support its arguments on how large the award should be.

Arn Tellem, general counsel for the Clippers, refused to comment on the decision because he had not received a copy at his office in Los Angeles.