Court Urges Anaheim, Angels to Negotiate

In the days preceding the Angels’ Jan. 3 name change, as the city of Anaheim threatened to sue the team, owner Arte Moreno and Mayor Curt Pringle met to discuss the issue.

The team proceeded with the change, the city proceeded with the lawsuit, and the two sides have not had any other substantive settlement negotiations. Monday, the presiding justice of the 4th District Court of Appeal urged both sides to try again.

Justice David Sills delivered his advice during a hearing to consider whether the court should overturn an Orange County Superior Court ruling that allows the team to play as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim until a trial can decide whether that name violates the stadium lease.

Anaheim co-counsel Andy Guilford said he expected a decision in “days or weeks” and hopes it comes before the Angels and Dodgers play Friday at Angel Stadium.

The meeting between Moreno and Pringle was alluded to during Monday’s hearing, when Sills asked Angel attorney George Stephan whether the team had pursued a settlement.

“We tried,” Stephan said. “We absolutely did talk to the city one on one, off the record.”

Stephan did not name Moreno or Pringle, but multiple sources confirmed their meeting. Pringle said he would not comment on a private discussion, and Angel spokesman Tim Mead said the team would not comment.

Instead of following up the meeting by making a formal settlement offer, Councilman Richard Chavez said, Moreno executed the name change and informed the city via fax.

“There has never been any offer of any sort on the part of the Angels, to my knowledge,” Chavez said.

Guilford and Stephan agreed to talk today to explore settlement options. At least publicly, however, city officials held the position that no matter how many millions Moreno might offer, there would be no deal unless he removes “Los Angeles” from the team name.

“The city hasn’t put forward a price tag for the name,” Pringle said.

“I don’t see how we mediate it at this point,” Chavez said.

In the hearing, when Associate Justice Richard Aronson said the Angels’ use of “Los Angeles” “strikes me as a little bit of bad faith” in honoring a lease that obligates the team to “include the name Anaheim therein,” Stephan said Pringle has promoted Anaheim to the NFL as “firmly in the center of the Los Angeles market.”

Said Stephan: “It’s good faith for them to do it and bad faith for us to do it?”

Said Aronson: “You’ve signed a contract.”

Stephan said the team acted in accordance with contract language; Guilford said the city is suffering irreparable harm with “LA” and not “ANA” on “every scoreboard across the country.” Stephan said the Angels “don’t want to be at war with the city,” noting in part the effect of sellout crowds upon local businesses.

“I guarantee you they would be very unhappy if we left,” he said. “That’s irreparable harm.”