And while we’re on the topic of lawsuits, the Arizona Coyotes successfully got their temporary restraining order on Friday against the city of Glendale vacating their lease. That’s no real surprise, as for a TRO you pretty much just have to show that you’d be damaged if the action went through and then was later found to be illegal — the judge in the case didn’t even indicate whether Glendale has to keep making its $15 million a year “operating subsidy” payments to the Coyotes owners while the restraining order is in place, so it doesn’t mean a whole heck of a lot.
We’re still all waiting on that promised $200 million lawsuit, meanwhile, which apparently needs to wait on the city actually informing the Coyotes officially of the lease termination, and also maybe until the Coyotes lawyers find a reason why they picked $200 million as the amount of damages. That’s $30 million more, it’s worth noting, than the entire team is worth based on its 2013 sale price.
And then there’s this:
Meanwhile, the city said it would hold a closed-door executive session on Tuesday following a possible breakthrough in the dispute.
“An opportunity for the two of us to discuss the issues has presented itself, and I am optimistic that with continued dialogue we can come to an agreement that satisfies both parties,” [Mayor Jerry] Weiers said.
Is it possible the Coyotes are willing to cut Glendale a break in exchange for keeping alive their annual city paychecks? Is Weiers backing down out of fear of a lawsuit? We’ll find out more tomorrow, maybe.
I did wonder how, if the team was as completely blindsided as they say they were, how they were going to be able to draft, review, finalize, and file a multi-million dollar lawsuit. It’s not the sort of thing you want to do in a rush. Perhaps the PR guys asked the lawyers and accountants for a quick number to announce, and now they are getting down to work and putting something substantive together.
Because I also don’t believe it is quite the slam dunk the city has indicated it is. Unless the Coyotes retained Bub “Bulldog” Miller as their corporate counsel, I would imagine they did a fair amount of due diligence before hiring the city’s own attorney, who probably has some fair knowledge of the law in his jurisdiction.