Raiders Win a Legal Round in Coliseum Battle

The Los Angeles Raiders won a legal round Friday when a Superior Court judge turned down a motion by attorneys for the Los Angeles Coliseum Commission for a summary judgment that the Raiders breached their contract with the Coliseum by entering into an agreement to eventually play in suburban Irwindale.

Judge Dzintra Janavs ruled that the issue of whether there was a breach of contract and even whether there was an enforceable agreement for the team to play in Irwindale, should be the subject of a trial for which no date has yet been set.

In her two-page opinion, Janavs said it appeared to her that even the Coliseum Commission’s attorneys agree that the contract under which the Raiders are playing in the Coliseum “does not preclude negotiations” for the team to play elsewhere once the term of that contract ends at the conclusion of the 1991 season.

“It is apparent from reading the (team’s 1987) Memorandum of Agreement (with Irwindale) that it is not a final agreement and that whether a final agreement might be entered into depends on numerous contingencies,” the judge wrote.

Raiders owner Al Davis, Janavs noted, has formally declared that the agreement with Irwindale “is only an agreement to agree” and she said his statement will be admissible evidence in any trial of the facts of the matter.

Raider spokeswoman Sue Turner said Friday, “We consider the decision a big victory.”

Frank Kaplan, one of the Coliseum Commission attorneys in the case, said Janavs “has not decided the case. She’s simply saying a jury will have to decide.”

The Coliseum Commission sued the Raiders more than a year ago for at least $57 million for breach of contract after the team’s plans to move to Irwindale were announced. Since then, the Irwindale deal has been delayed by a court order that an environmental impact report on plans for a new stadium be prepared, and no final agreement for the move has been negotiated.