Anaheim Files Appeal

In a last-gasp attempt to stop the Angels’ name change before the baseball season starts next month, the city of Anaheim on Monday asked the California Court of Appeal to immediately bar the team from calling itself the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

In the appeal, the city claims Orange County Superior Court Judge Peter Polos erred when he refused Anaheim’s request to stop the Angels from using the new name pending trial. The appeal, called a petition for writ, asks the court to grant the city’s request or, at the least, order Polos to reconsider the issue.

The court can reject the petition without a hearing. Mike Rubin, the city’s lead counsel, said he expected a ruling within 30 days.

“Writs in California are exceedingly difficult to obtain,” said Sheldon Eisenberg of the Santa Monica law firm Bryan Cave. “A very low percentage of writs are granted.”

Rubin said the city also planned to file a traditional appeal, which the court must hear, although the season could be over by then. That appeal must be filed by March 22 and could be heard in four to six months on a judicial fast track -- or in 12 to 24 months otherwise, Eisenberg said.

The city claims the Angels’ new name violates their stadium lease, which requires the team name to “include the name Anaheim therein.” Although Polos ruled the Angels have “technically complied” with the lease, the city argues that he erred “in relying on technicalities” when the intent of the clause -- to promote Anaheim -- “was so terribly and obviously plain.”

The city disputes Polos’ ruling that damages could be measured solely in dollars if the Angels are found to have broken their lease and urges the court to act now, before the team gains national recognition as the Los Angeles Angels instead of the Anaheim Angels.

Meanwhile, in advance of Wednesday’s hearing in which the Angels will ask Polos to throw out most of the case, the team filed court documents objecting to the city’s claim that the “Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim” cannot fulfill the spirit of the lease any more so than “Angels Who Hate Anaheim.”

The team argues it never has considered such “absurd” names and dismisses the allegation that the new name relegates Anaheim to second-class status.

“While the city may not like the name, the name does not constitute a disparagement of the city,” the team claims.