Judge Won't Block Angel Name Switch

By Bill Shaikin

Jan. 22, 2005 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

The Anaheim Angels appear destined to join the Houston Colt .45s, New York Gothams and California Angels in baseball’s collection of historical team names.

For the second time in two weeks, Orange County Superior Court Judge Peter Polos refused to stop the Angels from changing their name to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

In rejecting Anaheim’s request for a preliminary injunction on Friday, Polos ruled that the city has “failed to show a reasonable probability” of winning its lawsuit against the Angels and has failed to show why financial damages would be an inadequate penalty if the city did win.

So, with the Angels favored to keep their new name win or lose, the Anaheim City Council must decide how much longer to pursue -- and how much more to spend on -- the lawsuit. According to lawyers on both sides, a trial probably would not start until after the team had played the entire 2005 season as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

“We’re going to fight this until the end,” Anaheim Councilman Harry Sidhu said, “even if it takes a year or two years.”

Said Michael Dessent, contract law professor at California Western School of Law in San Diego: “That’s just delaying the inevitable.”

Although the city alleges the Angels have violated the stadium lease that requires the team name “to include the name Anaheim therein,” Polos said they have “technically complied with the plain language” of the contract. He added the agreement “does not give the city of Anaheim the right to name the Angels the Anaheim Angels.”

Polos said he did not block the name change in part because he did not believe the city would be irreparably harmed by it. If the city can prove the Angels have broken the contract, the new name could remain while monetary damages could be calculated and assessed.

“If the court is saying there’s no breach if the name Anaheim is in there, I don’t see there’s any monetary damages that would be awarded,” Dessent said. “To me, this was all or nothing as to the question of breach.”

Polos said he would meet with both sides March 8 and set a trial date then but added that he was “hopeful” the parties could settle before that time. Angel owner Arte Moreno might consider a settlement in the hope of resolving the matter before spring training, a team source said.

Councilman Richard Chavez said the council could discuss a settlement but would face a major obstacle in accepting one.

“We want our name as a prominent part and they don’t,” he said. “I don’t know how we fix that.”

The City Council will meet Tuesday to consider whether to pursue a settlement, drop the case, proceed to trial or appeal Friday’s ruling. An appeal could take months to be heard and rarely is successful, experts say.

Chavez noted the Angels paid the city nearly $2 million in ticket revenue last year and said the city could use those proceeds to pay its legal costs for months -- in essence, using Moreno’s money to sue Moreno.

“We have a billionaire that has looked for and found language perceived to be vague, and he has taken advantage of it and the taxpayers,” Chavez said.

At trial, Polos said, he would consider testimony and not just written declarations from those who negotiated the vague contract language. City Atty. Jack White said he thought evidence would be persuasive by showing neither Anaheim nor Disney, then owner of the Angels, intended to diminish the prominence of the city or considered using another city in the name.

The chances of victory for Anaheim are slim, said Sheldon Eisenberg, a Santa Monica lawyer who handles intellectual property and entertainment litigation.

“It’s difficult to win an injunction on a permanent basis if you lose on a preliminary basis,” he said. “The judge has looked at your arguments and rejected them.”

Polos did, however, warn the Angels that he would grant an injunction if the team dropped the “of Anaheim” and called itself the Los Angeles Angels.

Angel President Dennis Kuhl said the decision “allows us to move forward” with marketing plans as the season approaches, with the new name designed to help the team make more money by broadening its appeal.

Sales of season tickets are up 22% from this time last year, spokesman Tim Mead said. The Angels will open spring training, and the defense of their American League West championship, in 25 days. The team also will hold its annual fan festival at Angel Stadium on Feb. 12 and 13.

Yet the cloud of the name change, and the anger it has generated among some in Orange County who resent any affiliation with Los Angeles, could linger over the event. Moreno was the darling of last year’s festival, shaking hands and basking in applause for signing such stars as Vladimir Guerrero, the league’s most valuable player.

Kuhl said he did not know whether Moreno would attend this year’s festival.

Mead said the team would sell itself as the Angels, no city attached, and would not demand that media outlets use the Los Angeles name.

“If someone calls us the Anaheim Angels,” Mead said, “we’ll correct them.”

Times staff writers Dave McKibben and Mike DiGiovanna contributed to this report.