Judge Denies Gag Order in Coliseum’s Raiders Suit

A Superior Court judge Thursday rejected a motion by attorneys for the Los Angeles Raiders to put a gag order on parties to the Coliseum Commission’s $57-million lawsuit against the team for alleged breach of contract and declined to strike two key clauses from the suit.

In the first court hearing in the case, the Raiders were seeking to strip the lawsuit of its punitive damage and constructive trust claims.

Under the constructive trust part of the complaint, a judgment is sought ordering that all money paid by Irwindale to the Raiders under the deal to bring the team there from the Coliseum, including a $10-million advance already made, be placed in a trust and turned over to the Coliseum Commission.

Judge Miriam A. Vogel said she would be unwilling to intervene to prevent a complete hearing of all parts of the suit, which accuses the Raiders of reneging on agreements to build luxury boxes on the Coliseum rim.

“I’m not a football fan, but I do know a complaint and a demurrer when I see one,” Vogel said.

Could Delay Stadium

Commission attorney Marshall Grossman said the effect of the judge’s decision may be to reduce the willingness of the Raiders to put money the team gets from Irwindale into construction of a stadium there until the lawsuit is adjudicated.

“Otherwise, if they went ahead, the Coliseum Commission could end up owning the Irwindale stadium,” he said.

In seeking the gag order, Raiders attorney Richard Haas explained the team is fearful that documents revealing Raider business secrets that are turned over to the commission’s attorneys may find their way to the press.

Vogel said there is no reason to consider a gag order now, because there is no evidence that any documents have been released to the press. She said she would rely on the discretion of the parties until there was reason not to.

Release of Documents

After the hearing, Grossman said that in light of the judge’s comments, it would be “improvident” of him to release any documents.

But Grossman said that, in general, the documents provided show that the Raiders sold fewer of the 60 planned luxury suites than they claimed publicly before stopping work on them, and that the suites would have cost considerably more to build than the $8-million figure the Raiders gave out publicly.

Haas decline to comment on whether this was an accurate summation of the documents.

The Raiders stopped construction of the suites last Feb. 18 on grounds that the commission had not lived up to a commitment to proceed at the same time with a $9-million reconfiguration of other Coliseum seating. In its lawsuit, the commission asserts that no such commitment was made and that the Raiders’ failure to build the suites was a breach of contract.