As a result of the leadership vacuum at City Hall the Chargers filed a lawsuit against the City yesterday. The bad news is they felt they had to file a lawsuit. The good news is it is a suit for declaratory relief which means there are no damages involved, it is simply to have a determination made as to whether they can, or cannot, "trigger" the renegotiation clause.

For months the Chargers have tried to discuss the issues with the City to no avail. There have been over 30 meetings between the City and the Chargers that have produced nothing of substance. The Chargers have allowed the City to inspect the financial records relating to the trigger, yet, the City refuses to even acknowledge they have done so. Further, representatives of the City continue to claim publicly they do not believe the Chargers can trigger, yet, they will take no action to determine whether they are correct or not.

In any reasonable business setting, if you can't figure out the issues in four or five meetings, it isn't going to get figured out (the Chargers have met with City negotiators 34 times since March). You then look to what the next practical step might be to resolve your differences. The Chargers offered binding arbitration as a reasonable way to conclude what the City claims they do not know, i.e., whether they have met the financial criteria allowing them to trigger the renegotiation clause. The City rejected that offer but proposed no other solution. However, they did continue with the rhetoric that "we don't believe they can trigger", the legal equivalent of "I dare you to hit me".

In our opinion the Chargers took the last option available to them, to ask a court of law to determine the facts. They have also stated that they will drop the lawsuit if the City agrees to binding arbitration.

###

- Return to News Releases -