Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim win case to keep name

In a ruling expected to end a legal challenge from the city of Anaheim that lasted nearly four years, a state appellate court today declined to set aside a jury verdict in favor of the Angels.

The city is expected to drop the case rather than pursue its lone remaining legal option, an appeal to the California Supreme Court. City officials were not immediately available for comment.

"We're certainly pleased with the decision," Angels spokesman Tim Mead said. "We look forward to working with the city, not only in 2009 but as we prepare for the 2010 All-Star game, and in other projects."

In 2006, an Orange County Superior Court jury found the team name did not violate a stadium lease provision requiring the name to "include the name Anaheim therein."

The city had asked the 4th District Court of Appeal to either overturn the name change or order a new trial, claiming the verdict might have been different had Superior Court Judge Peter Polos not made a series of rulings the city considered improper.

The three-judge appellate panel issued a split decision, with Justice David Sills writing in his dissent that the verdict assuredly would have been different had the jury been told to focus on a state law requiring ambiguities in certain disputes between public entities and private interests to be interpreted in favor of the public entity.

"As a result, we end up with the oxymoronic monstrosity that is the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim," Sills wrote.

He added: "Bad trial court decisions can indeed be exorcized."

The appellate court also declined to order the city to reimburse the fees the Angels paid to their attorneys.

The city has paid $3.7 million to the two law firms representing Anaheim, through Sept. 30, according to City Atty. Jack White. The firms agreed to cap the city's legal fees for the appeal at $150,000.

The Angels' legal fees are expected to exceed $8 million, according to two sources familiar with the case who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about the case.

In 1996, as the Walt Disney Co. bought the Angels from the Autry family, the city agreed to invest $20 million in stadium renovations, with Disney changing the team name from California Angels to Anaheim Angels.

In 2003, Disney sold the team to Arte Moreno. After he added "Los Angeles" to the team name in 2005, the city filed suit, claiming it never would have helped to fund the stadium renovations without the promise the team would feature Anaheim in its name.

Moreno implemented the name change after the city spurned his overtures toward a negotiated agreement that would allow the team to be called the Los Angeles Angels. By affiliating the team with Los Angeles, Moreno said, he could broaden the fan base, enhancing interest and revenue from advertisers and broadcasters.

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim name, adopted solely to comply with the lease, has been widely mocked. However, the name does not figure to survive beyond 2016. The Angels can opt out of their stadium lease at that time, and Moreno does not figure to agree to a new lease -- in Anaheim or elsewhere -- without the right to call his team the Los Angeles Angels.

bill.shaikin@latimes.com