Here is the latest legal skirmish in the Sonic Wars. I simply do not understand why the "intentions" of the owners have any validity in this lawsuit. It would seem to me that the lease is either ironclad or it isn't, and whether the Sonics owners want to stay in Seattle or not is immaterial. I'm not a lawyer, though, so perhaps I am missing something.

Sonics in e-mail skirmish
Team says city's access requests excessive, illegal
By GREG JOHNS
P-I REPORTER

While the trial between Sonics owners and the city of Seattle won't start for four months, legal skirmishing between both parties is well underway. Lawyers for the Sonics filed a Rule 37 objection this week to the city's request for access to e-mail files of eight members of the Professional Basketball Club, LLC ownership group, with the city countering with an extensive explanation of why it would like to see communications among owners both before and after the team's purchase.

The Sonics have agreed to provide access to pertinent e-mails belonging to team chairman Clay Bennett and minority owner Aubrey McClendon, but contend that providing the "responsive e-mail" files of six other requested owners would be unnecessary and perhaps even illegal, given the co-owners work at various private companies and use those firms' own e-mail systems.

The NBA has also objected to the city's subpoena of some of its records in the discovery process currently underway.A 34-page document filed to Judge Marsha Pechman's court this week outlines the e-mail war, as well as providing insight into the root of the city's lawsuit seeking to bind the basketball team to its KeyArena lease through the 2009-10 season.

A magistrate, or independent judge, will likely settle the e-mail dispute so the discovery process can continue and depositions begin with the questioning of key figures in the case. While the battle over the scope of e-mail access delves into minutia of legal precedents, the big picture lays out some of the key components that figure to play out in the trial, scheduled to begin June 16 in U.S. District Court and expected to last about six days.

The city clearly intends to attack McLendon's published statement that the ownership group purchased the team in July of 2006 with the intent of moving it to Oklahoma City. Thus the city's lawyers are looking for e-mail discussions between fellow owners prior to the purchase date, as well as subsequent exchanges, that might shed further light on that topic. Bennett has said McClendon was speaking solely for himself, while the city would like to see if there is e-mail proof that other owners also discussed the matter.

The Sonics' lawyers are already responding to that issue by labeling it the "supposed Secret Plan" in this week's documents. "The sole basis for the theory is a press report of a remark made by Mr. McClendon," the Sonics state. "Despite urging the Secret Plan to the media, in pleadings and (to) anyone who will listen, the City has never squared its theory with the fact that the PBC spent millions of dollars and months of effort trying to structure an economically viable arrangement to keep the Sonics in the greater Seattle area."

Lawyers for the city are also searching for documents concerning the KeyArena lease, details of the purchase, financial performance of the team, pursuit of other arena options and whether good faith efforts were indeed made to keep the franchise in Seattle. This week's documents contain precise information on the ownership structure of the Oklahoma group, with Bennett, McClendon and Tom Ward each owning 19.23 percent of the club, with numerous other owners holding significantly smaller shares.

The club's lawyers argue that providing access to some 150,000 responsive e-mails belonging to Bennett and McClendon will cover any communications among the entire ownership group. The e-mails will be filtered through a search containing pertinent words such as "Sonics" and "basketball" in order to obtain relevant documents.

The PBC lawyers say Bennett and McClendon both use systems that trap all e-mail, even when deleted off the desktop, so that no documents will have been eliminated.

Sonics lawyers contend that some of the other owners might have exchanged e-mails either between themselves or with third parties that weren't sent to Bennett and McClendon and that such searches wouldn't be any more burdensome than those already being conducted on the archives of Bennett and McClendon.

The Sonics already have obtained city e-mail documents, as those are available via a public records request for a government agency.