Is Angelos' family legal issue close to resolution?

[SteveA]

In one of those Sunday "notes from all around baseball" columns for USA Today, Bob Nightengale has a one sentence blurb:

"Peter Angelos' family legal dispute is nearing a conclusion, which should trigger the Baltimore Orioles going on sale soon in the seller's market".

Is this true?  Is there really any reason to believe we are close to a resolution of the John/Lou lawsuit???

I'm no legal expert but if the MASN situation has taught us anything, it seems like the legal system can be glacially slow.  I've heard nothing to indicate that this dispute is close to resolution.

[Frobby]

Last I looked, there was a trial set for July, scheduled to last for a month.  Honestly, I don’t think the lawsuit has much to do with anything involving selling the team.  

[Tony-OH]

10 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Last I looked, there was a trial set for July, scheduled to last for a month.  Honestly, I don’t think the lawsuit has much to do with anything involving selling the team.  

I'm surprised to hear you say that. I men, you're the lawyer around these parts, but I would think it would be tough to sell a team where there's a legal dispute over ownership.

[Frobby]

45 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

I'm surprised to hear you say that. I men, you're the lawyer around these parts, but I would think it would be tough to sell a team where there's a legal dispute over ownership.

I said that because considerations other than the dispute - I.e. the tax ramifications of selling now - way overshadow the legal dispute in terms of importance.   I don’t think the lawsuit has a lot of merit, but I certainly agree that a potential buyer would want to be sure the potential seller actually had the authority to complete the sale.  

Edited January 8, 2023 by Frobby

[Aristotelian]

21 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I said that because considerations other than the dispute - I.e. the tax ramifications of selling now - way overshadow the legal dispute in terms of importance.   I don’t think the lawsuit has a lot of merit, but I certainly agree that a potential buyer would want to be sure the potential seller actually had the authority to complete the sale.  

Didn't they have a sale in place were it not for Louis blocking it, or threatening to do so?

[Frobby]

Just now, Aristotelian said:

Didn't they have a sale in place were it not for Louis blocking it, or threatening to do so?

No.

[Ripken]

I can't even describe how tired I am of the Angelos family, potential sale, MASN dispute, and stadium lease situations.  They are infuriating.  This is supposed to be a fun life distraction and they continue to damage it.  This team has a bunch of young kids ready to roll the next decade.  The current disaster in the ownership box can not get the hell out of here fast enough.

[TWpj]

Unless there is a settlement on the horizon, I seriously doubt the matter is near conclusion. Can’t imagine much meaningful discovery has been completed. 

[Aristotelian]

21 minutes ago, Frobby said:

No.

OK, I misremembered it. I had in mind this section of the lawsuit document. It was John who nixed it. In any case it does seem they have gotten close to a sale were it not for the ongoing issues, although if it is John who is holding it back that is more complicated.

https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/angelos-angelos-complaint-baltimore-county.pdf

Q. As His Last Act, Haley’s Outreach Generates Interest In A Favorable Sale. 137. At the same time that John was engaging in open war with Haley, Haley was actively striving to achieve Mrs. Angelos’ top priority – a sale of the team. 138. By virtue of his reaching out, Haley met in January 2020 with persons representing certain interests regarding a potential deal. 139. As a result of that meeting, the Orioles learned that an excellent deal with a credible group of buyers was ripe for development. 140. An outright sale of the team prior to Mr. Angelos’ death would have resulted in a sizeable tax hit. Haley had conceptualized a plan to achieve certain tax savings through a two-step sale of the team. Jones had refined Haley’s plan and this group of buyers was receptive to structuring a sale to enable the Angelos family to realize significant tax savings. 141. However, soon after the Haley meeting, John “pooh-poohed” the discussions, stating that it was “not a process.” Shortly afterwards, a group representative called Haley to report that a representative of MLB had met with the “Angelos family” and that “it’s over.” John had 29 apparently nixed any deal. 142. Remarkably, despite John’s best efforts, interest in a deal did not die there. In April, the buyer group came back continuing to express interest in a deal.

There was also a report in the fall that the team had hired Goldman to assess a sale but the sale would be "tied up as long as lawsuits between the Angelos family last" (this is a quote from the article, not a source). 

https://www.cbsnews.com/baltimore/news/orioles-reportedly-hired-goldman-sachs-to-assess-sale/

[CharmCityHokie]

1 hour ago, SteveA said:

In one of those Sunday "notes from all around baseball" columns for USA Today, Bob Nightengale has a one sentence blurb:

"Peter Angelos' family legal dispute is nearing a conclusion, which should trigger the Baltimore Orioles going on sale soon in the seller's market".

Is this true?  Is there really any reason to believe we are close to a resolution of the John/Lou lawsuit???

I'm no legal expert but if the MASN situation has taught us anything, it seems like the legal system can be glacially slow.  I've heard nothing to indicate that this dispute is close to resolution.

I'm not sure if I'm reading this correctly but is Nightengale suggesting that it's currently a "seller's market" for MLB teams? It may be in general (the very breadth of the economics of paying a billion dollars for anything is beyond the scale of my mental calculation), but given there is also a team 40 minutes down the road also for sale, I feel like that the mirco-market of the MASN-baseball teams would become a 'buyer's market' if both teams were up for sale at the same time. Just my take. 

[Can_of_corn]

12 minutes ago, CharmCityHokie said:

I'm not sure if I'm reading this correctly but is Nightengale suggesting that it's currently a "seller's market" for MLB teams? It may be in general (the very breadth of the economics of paying a billion dollars for anything is beyond the scale of my mental calculation), but given there is also a team 40 minutes down the road also for sale, I feel like that the mirco-market of the MASN-baseball teams would become a 'buyer's market' if both teams were up for sale at the same time. Just my take. 

I think it is pretty much always a seller's market.

[Tony-OH]

2 hours ago, Frobby said:

I said that because considerations other than the dispute - I.e. the tax ramifications of selling now - way overshadow the legal dispute in terms of importance.   I don’t think the lawsuit has a lot of merit, but I certainly agree that a potential buyer would want to be sure the potential seller actually had the authority to complete the sale.  

That's kind my thoughts on the situation. I agree the lawsuit has little merit and I imagine once everyone calms down they will work it all out. I also being they won't sell until Peter Angelos passes.

[Tony-OH]

1 hour ago, Ripken said:

I can't even describe how tired I am of the Angelos family, potential sale, MASN dispute, and stadium lease situations.  They are infuriating.  This is supposed to be a fun life distraction and they continue to damage it.  This team has a bunch of young kids ready to roll the next decade.  The current disaster in the ownership box can not get the hell out of here fast enough.

I doubt anyone will argue with this take.

[JR Oriole]

2 hours ago, Ripken said:

I can't even describe how tired I am of the Angelos family, potential sale, MASN dispute, and stadium lease situations.  They are infuriating.  This is supposed to be a fun life distraction and they continue to damage it.  This team has a bunch of young kids ready to roll the next decade.  The current disaster in the ownership box can not get the hell out of here fast enough.

I completely agree with all of this.  It is all mindless, boring crap that just never ends and just creates excuses that are tired.  Kind of like this offseason.  If there was such a thing as an ownership WAR, the Angelos family WAR would be completely pathetic. This team has only one deliverable that any fan should care about at this point: winning games and getting to the postseason.  Other teams do it.  And until the Orioles payroll merits an actual line item on my personal family budget, I simply don't care what they spend.  Win games.  

[Frobby]

2 hours ago, Ripken said:

I can't even describe how tired I am of the Angelos family, potential sale, MASN dispute, and stadium lease situations.  They are infuriating.  This is supposed to be a fun life distraction and they continue to damage it.  This team has a bunch of young kids ready to roll the next decade.  The current disaster in the ownership box can not get the hell out of here fast enough.

I really only care about getting the lease done, so I don’t need to hear any further wild speculation about the team moving, which I’ve never believed had a remote chance of happening.   I’d like to just shut that subject down, and I’m interested in what the investments in the area will look like.  

The family lawsuit is just a sideshow, that doesn’t really add or subtract from my enjoyment of the team.  

The MASN case is just stupidity at this point, but I will be glad when it’s over, I guess.

 

Edited January 8, 2023 by Frobby