This Time, L.A. Has Problems With the Angels

The Angels now face legal opposition from both of the cities in their new name. The city of Los Angeles lined up behind the city of Anaheim on Wednesday, arguing in a legal brief that the Orange County Superior Court “should reject the Angels’ attempt to profit from the Los Angeles name they abandoned long ago.”

Los Angeles will formally ask the court to consider its views today, in support of the lawsuit in which Anaheim charges that the team’s name change to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim violates their stadium lease.

The Angels can ask the court to ignore those views, and even if they don’t ask, the court is under no obligation to consider them.

“If the issue is one of contract interpretation between the team and the city of Anaheim, the comments of a party not a part of the contract are not going to be relevant,” said Sheldon Eisenberg, a Santa Monica lawyer who handles intellectual property and entertainment litigation.

In November, the Los Angeles City Council approved a resolution opposing the name change, and council President Alex Padilla directed City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo to explore whether the city should pursue legal action. Deputy City Atty. Edward Jordan, who filed the brief, acknowledged the Council did not specifically authorize legal intervention.

“There was no formal resolution adopted,” Jordan said.

Dodger owner Frank McCourt said last week that his team opposed the name change but would refrain from supporting Anaheim in court. Howard Sunkin, the Dodgers’ senior vice president of public affairs, said the team did not orchestrate Wednesday’s filing but did applaud it.

“This just reiterates that Los Angeles has one team and it’s the Dodgers,” he said.

In the brief, Los Angeles calls it “improper” for the Angels to use the name of a city in which they do not play and to which they do not pay taxes. The city did not object when the NFL’s Rams retained the Los Angeles name upon moving from the Coliseum to Anaheim in 1980.

“The Angels were here, went to Anaheim and abandoned the name,” Jordan said. “There’s no connection between the Angels and the city of Los Angeles any more.”

The team was born the Los Angeles Angels in 1961, became the California Angels upon moving to Anaheim in 1966 and became the Anaheim Angels in 1997.

The Dodgers acquired the rights to the Los Angeles Angels name five decades ago, when they moved from Brooklyn and displaced the minor league team of that name. When Gene Autry decided to call his American League expansion team the Los Angeles Angels, he paid Dodger owner Walter O’Malley $300,000 for rights to the name, according to Buzzie Bavasi, then the Dodgers’ general manager.

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As the Angels risk alienating their hometown fans by slapping Los Angeles onto their name, the Dodgers are descending upon Anaheim.

The Dodgers will send 2003 Cy Young Award winner Eric Gagne and Hall of Fame manager Tom Lasorda to Anaheim on Monday, when the team launches its winter caravan.

The duo will lead a clinic at the West Anaheim Little League that afternoon, then greet fans at 5 p.m. at the ESPN Zone in Anaheim -- home of the Angels’ weekly winter radio show.

The daylong caravans, featuring different players and personnel each trip, will visit the San Gabriel Valley Tuesday and conclude at Gordon Biersch at Pasadena.

The Dodgers also are arranging Feb. 7-8 trips, one ending in Santa Clarita and the other at Universal City Walk in Hollywood. Details: dodgers.com.

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Times special correspondent Ross Newhan contributed to this report.