The jury deliberating the Angels name change case has sided with owner Arte Moreno in his controversial switch of the baseball team’s name to Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
Nine members of the 12 person jury found Moreno didn’t violate a 1996 lease for Angel Stadium of Anaheim with the name change.
The verdict ends four weeks of often lively arguments and testimony, including from Moreno and Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle, who bitterly fought the name change.
“We are very disappointed,” Pringle said. “Our goal was always to present the case. And as responsible elected officials, we did.”
Pringle said he looked forward to working with Moreno. As for an appeal, Pringle said, “all those things are up for discussion.”
Moreno declined to comment on working with the city.
“We felt from the outset we were in compliance with the lease,” Angels spokesman Tim Mead said. “This changes nothing. For us, this is business as usual.”
Juror Jack Clay said it was difficult to prove Moreno violated the lease.
Another juror, Judy Cottrell, said she wasn’t “an Angels fan from the beginning, but I’m beginning to be one now.”
“I learned a lot of baseball, contracts and leases,” she said.
Cottrell said she believed Moreno didn’t do “anything bad to the city of Anaheim.”
“Arte is a good manager,” she said.
Jan Duffy, a juror from Laguna Niguel, said all Moreno had to do was include Anaheim in the team name. She said she didn’t understand the city’s case.
The litigation itself dates back more than a year.
The city had sought as much as $373 million in damages over the next two decades from lost exposure.
Moreno renamed the team in early 2005 in a bid to broaden its marketing appeal.
