Lawsuit Over Rams' Relocation Leads To $790M For St. Louis

[FAH1223]

St. Louis judge denies NFL, Rams and Kroenke's move to dismiss relocation lawsuit
By Joel Currier

Los Angeles Rams owner Stan Kroenke, on the sideline before a game against the San Francisco 49ers on Oct. 13. (AP Photo)

ST. LOUIS — The closely watched relocation lawsuit against the National Football League, Los Angeles Rams and team owner Stan Kroenke cleared a major hurdle Tuesday when a St. Louis judge refused to throw the case out.


LAW AND ORDER
Judge denies motion for summary judgment in suit against Rams, NFL and Kroenke

Circuit Judge Christopher McGraugh’s order rebuffed all of the legal arguments by the league, club and Kroenke in their attempts to avoid a high-stakes civil trial set for January in St. Louis Circuit Court.

The lawsuit was filed in 2017 by St. Louis, St. Louis County and the St. Louis Regional Convention and Sports Complex Authority. Its core claim: that the NFL broke its own relocation rules that were established decades ago to avoid antitrust liability and encourage teams to stay in their home cities. The suit alleged the Rams’ move to Los Angeles in 2016 was a breach of contract, fraud, illegal enrichment and interference in business by the Rams and the NFL, causing significant public financial loss.

The Regional Sports Authority, or RSA, owns The Dome at America’s Center, formerly called Edward Jones Dome, where the Rams played for 21 seasons — 15 of them with losing records. The St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission, often called the CVC, runs the stadium and convention center.

In June, the NFL, Rams and Kroenke sought to have the suit dismissed by filing a motion for summary judgment. In it, they sought to discredit the lawsuit by arguing the league’s relocation guidelines are not a contract and that the team owners are free to apply their own “business judgment” in assessing whether a team should move in order to advance the NFL’s “collective interests.”

McGraugh’s order said the plaintiffs have cited evidence of their claim that the NFL, Rams and Kroenke “unjustly enriched” themselves from the move, which if proved at trial, “will establish that the wrongful relocation of the Rams to Los Angeles was at the expense of removing the Rams from St. Louis, which caused plaintiffs’ damages.”

McGraugh also declined to dismiss the fraud claims, which say the NFL, Rams and Kroenke lied to the public about the team’s plans to move to Los Angeles.

“While plaintiffs knew of Mr. Kroenke’s desire to move the team to Los Angeles by 2015, it is certainly not uncontroverted that they knew the team was moving,” McGraugh wrote.

The judge also pointed out that the relocation guidelines encourage teams to negotiate in good faith to stay in their home communities.

McGraugh said in Tuesday’s court hearing that the defendants have until Sept. 28 to turn over financial documents that would be used to assess punitive damages at trial, as ordered in July. Kroenke and five other NFL team owners have petitioned the Missouri Supreme Court to block the judge’s order to produce the records. The judge said each defendant would be fined $1,000 per day after the deadline if they don’t comply.

Kroenke’s lawyer declined comment Tuesday. A lawyer for the NFL did not immediately have a comment and a lawyer for the plaintiffs could not be reached.

 

[FAH1223]

Florio thinks its a big deal. Calls out NFL and ESPN.

National media needs to cover the Rams relocation litigation - ProFootballTalk
Posted by Mike Florio on September 15, 2021, 8:49 PM EDT

One of the most significant pieces of litigation against the NFL in years continues to play out in a St. Louis courtroom. And most of the national media continues to look the other way.

Tuesday’s ruling on the NFL’s so-called motion for summary judgment means that, absent a settlement, the lawsuit filed against the league as a result of the relocation of the Rams will go to trial unless it’s settled. And while many are simply shrugging and saying that the case will soon settle, the lawyers representing the plaintiffs surely realize the enhanced value of a settlement to the league given Tuesday’s outcome — and they surely will be adjusting their demands accordingly.

Think of the trial in A Few Good Men. That case had only one Col. Nathan Jessup. This case will have several, from the Commissioner to every owner who takes the stand. Folks with that amount of wealth, power, and influence simply aren’t wired to defer to any authority other than their own. Absent the kind of aggressive coaching that could prompt them to eventually fire the lawyers who are trying to prepare them to properly hold up under questioning, they will not be good witnesses. They will get frustrated. They will get agitated. They won’t realize they’re being set up to be caught in an inconsistency that will invite the jury to conclude they’re lying. They may blow their stacks and give up the ghost, like Col. Jessup eventually did.

The only way to avoid that is to settle. And that will now be ridiculously expensive. It should be. Apart from the specific nuts and bolts regarding actual financial losses and the like, the plaintiffs have a tiger by the tail. Actually, they have several tigers by the tail. And they have the power to force each of those tigers to surrender their fangs, claws, and stripes and settle into a witness box.

It’s unclear where it will go from here. Maybe the league will pay whatever it takes. Maybe the league has some secret legal strategy up its sleeve to prevent a trial. Maybe the league will offer St. Louis an expansion team as a last-ditch way to get out of this mess.

Regardless, without a settlement there will be a trial. And it will be compelling.

Amazingly, the case has largely been ignored by the national media. While it’s no surprise that NFL Network and NFL.com have given the case third-rail treatment, the fact that they’re owned by the league and housed in the stadium complex Stan Kroenke built when fleeing St. Louis doesn’t make the silence proper or appropriate. If NFL Media wants to be regarded as a legitimate media operation, it must cover this case.

Other national brands are avoiding it, like ESPN.com. After years of strained relations with 345 Park Avenue, it’s no surprise. ESPN has tried hard recently to resurrect its relationship with the league. Although ESPN posted several stories about the case during the early phases of the litigation, it’s been crickets from Bristol as the league has endured multiple significant losses in recent weeks, from a finding that the financial information of the Commissioner and various owners must be disclosed given the possibility of an award of punitive damages to the decision not to move the case to a new county to Tuesday’s monumental conclusion that the case will proceed to a trial in open court.

The league often bristles at adverse coverage or criticism from any of its many business partners. Presumably, owning and operating a media company that always treads lightly on matters involving ownership makes the league expect similar treatment from others.

Still, the NFL can huff and puff all it wants about PFT or anyone else pointing out the existence of the St. Louis case and the potentially serious financial consequences that the league may be facing. None of that will change the fact that, at or about the time the Rams are hosting the Super Bowl in their new L.A. stadium, a judge and jury in Missouri may blow the league’s house down.

 

[2Quik4UHoes]

Al’s ghost got the lambs in court for stealing his Hollywood Park location for our LA stadium. Shoulda just let the Raiders move back and claim what was theirs. Ah welp….

 

[Joe Sixpack]

Kroenke has more money than God he’ll have to pay and that’s it.

Why should people care about this?

I don’t

 

[King Poetic]

They’ll settled out of court

give the Lou their money

 

[jfkennedy]

The NFL screwed the move up and rushed it, there really isn’t any doubts about it. We all knew when Kroenke bought the minority stake with first right of refusal to buy the rest that he wanted to go back to LA. It wasn’t some dirty little secret, and the fact that they went about it so ingeniously is biting them in the ass.

And the people here don’t want someone else’s team. I expect a huge payout.

 

[KidJSoul]

Crazy how Edward Jones Dome (where the Rams played in St Louis) was a new stadium built in the 90s, but then just some 20 years later, it was already outdated and one of the worst stadiums in the league.

How does that happen

 

[dora_da_destroyer]

Settlement but this is stupid. Solves nothing, you still lost your team, the world moves on

 

[jfkennedy]

Settlement but this is stupid. Solves nothing, you still lost your team, the world moves on

This is horrible logic ... so just let teams and the NFL do whatever the fukk they want as long as it doesn't involve you?

I get y'all hate smaller cities but you can't just pass this off as stupid. The city spent $20 million to keep the Rams, that taxpayer money solves nothing?

 

[dora_da_destroyer]

This is horrible logic ... so just let teams and the NFL do whatever the fukk they want as long as it doesn't involve you?

I get y'all hate smaller cities but you can't just pass this off as stupid. The city spent $20 million to keep the Rams, that taxpayer money solves nothing?

bruh, i get going after the money...shyt is stupid as a story and it's stupid for those who see it as "get-back". you're talking to someone from oakland who knows about footing the bill for a team that bounced and knows about losing teams. recoup your damages, but for those who see it as sticking it to kroenke, it's not

 

[Thavoiceofthevoiceless]

bruh, i get going after the money...shyt is stupid as a story and it's stupid for those who see it as "get-back". you're talking to someone from oakland who knows about footing the bill for a team that bounced and knows about losing teams. recoup your damages, but for those who see it as sticking it to kroenke, it's not

No one is saying that it's about sticking to Kroenke. If they breached the terms of the contract, then they breached the terms of contract and that's all there is to it. Even they know they fukked up, which is why they're eventually going to have to settle with the city.

It's business and nothing personal.

 

[MikelArteta]

hopefully a big fine that he has to sell arsenal

 

[MustafaSTL]

Stick those backstabbing b*stards for everything. fukking fakkits.

 

[jfkennedy]

bruh, i get going after the money...shyt is stupid as a story and it's stupid for those who see it as "get-back". you're talking to someone from oakland who knows about footing the bill for a team that bounced and knows about losing teams. recoup your damages, but for those who see it as sticking it to kroenke, it's not

We all know Kroenke has more than enough to foot the bill for the settlement but you have to hold these people accountable. You think it won’t be huge to see Jerry in a courtroom having to testify about this?

Also Bills and Panthers fans should pay close attention to this as well …

 

[K-Apps]