Sides Agree to Cut List of Defendants

The scope of the Oakland Raiders’ $1-billion Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit was trimmed Tuesday when 15 NFL teams that had been named as defendants were dropped from the case.

By agreement of the Raiders and the NFL, the teams were dropped only days before the case goes to the jury. The move leaves the NFL as the sole defendant in the case, now in its seventh week. Closing arguments are set to begin Thursday; jurors will get the case thereafter.

Outside court, NFL attorney Allen Ruby called the move to drop the 15 teams “gratifying.” Ruby said, “We always believed those claims were unwarranted.”

Raider lawyer Joseph M. Alioto, however, portrayed the move as akin to legal housekeeping, saying he wanted jurors to be able to concentrate on the issue of the NFL’s liability in the case.

The league denies any wrongdoing. The Raiders claim the NFL interfered with a proposed 1995 stadium deal at Hollywood Park, leaving the team no choice but to return to Oakland. The Raiders, who played in Los Angeles from 1982 through 1994, also claim they still own the L.A. market for NFL football.