Fight To Hold Sonics To Lease Cost City Of Seattle Nearly $3M
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City Of Seattle Shells Out Nearly $3M In
Suit To Hold Sonics To KeyArena Lease |
The city of Seattle ultimately "came out ahead financially in its lawsuit" over the Sonics' KeyArena lease against the Professional Basketball Club (PBC), the team's Oklahoma-based ownership group led by Clay Bennett, according to Greg Johns of the SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER. The final expense tally for the suit, which "will come out of the city's judgment claims fund," totaled $2,957,898, but Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels' spokesperson Robert Mak indicated that the money "would be absorbed by the settlement agreement that required [PBC] to pay $45[M] in exchange for the right to move" to Oklahoma City immediately. About "three-fourths of the legal bill went" to Seattle-based law firm K&L Gates, whose bill totaled $2.35M, plus $89,282 for expert witness fees and $50,972 in copy expenses. Among the other expenses were $17,000 to the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce for records turned over during the suit, $232,654 to Chicago-based Navigant Consulting for "research before the trial as well as the testimony of economists Todd Menenberg and Lon Hatamiya" and $61,296 to Smith College sports economist Andrew Zimbalist, "even though his testimony was ripped apart on the witness stand." Zimbalist earned $59,540 for "his time spent preparing his Seattle report and his 50 minutes on the stand," and he also charged $1,495 for travel expenses from his home in Massachusetts, $168 for travel in Seattle, $54 for parking and $38 for meal reimbursement. The city of Seattle also paid $90,969 to C.H. Johnson Consulting, $30,000 to Stafford Sports and $10,000 to Northmarq Advisors for "various consulting duties on arena issues" (SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER, 8/29).
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