Adithya Sambamurthy, for The Bay Citizen

Jorge Leon cheers on the Oakland Athletics in their game against the LA Angels of Anaheim on Tuesday, June 8, 2010

When the San Francisco Giants threatened to move to Florida in 1992, City Attorney Louise Renne quickly – and without breathing a word to anyone -- sent her lawyers down to the courthouse to file a lawsuit.

“We very quietly prepared to get a restraining order to stop the Giants from leaving town,” said Renne, who is now in private practice. “I didn’t tell any other city official; it was a stealth attack, I suppose.”

By several accounts, the stealth legal attack cast uncertainty on the deal and delayed it just long enough to prevent the Giants from being sold to a group of investors from Florida. Instead, a group of local investors headed by Peter Magowan stepped in and bought the team from Bob Lurie, who’d become frustrated trying to build his team a new stadium.

If the scenario sounds similar to what could soon be transpiring with the A’s in Oakland, it’s because it is. The team’s owner, Lew Wolff, wants a new stadium and has his sites set on San Jose, even going as far as hiring an architect and cutting questionable deals with the city to acquire the needed land. 

Legal experts say that Oakland has the same ammunition to prevent the A’s from moving to San Jose. A part of the A’s lease essentially prohibits the team from taking actions that could result in the team leaving town.

“I wouldn't have any question that they have a complaint drafted and sitting on a desk somewhere drawing on all the other disputes, including ours,” said Jim Hunt, a lawyer who represented the Giants in their fight with Renne and San Francisco.

Oakland City Attorney John Russo said that he has gone over the A’s lease with a “fine-toothed comb,” and if the A’s violate the agreement, “my office will consult with the decision makers and take whatever action is necessary.” But he said that because Oakland is working with Major League Baseball on the whole issue, “it’s premature for us to look at things like legal action against the A’s.”

When asked if he had a complaint drafted and sitting on a desk somewhere, Russo's tone became more ominous: “The A’s pattern of behavior has been apparent for many years now, and were we forced to act, we are ready to act very quickly.”

Bob Rose, the A’s spokesman, declined to comment for the story, saying only that the team is waiting for the blue-ribbon committee that is studying – with all the speed of a Galápagos giant tortoise – whether the A’s should be allowed to move into the Giants' territory in San Jose.

When San Francisco sued the Giants in 1992, it wasn’t the first time. Back in 1976, the cash-strapped team was on its way to being sold to a group in Toronto when the city stepped in and filed a lawsuit. 

Giants’ lawyer Hunt said the city didn’t have much of a case to stop the team from moving since bankruptcy was the other alternative to being sold to investors from Toronto. But when then-Mayor George Moscone showed up in court to say they’d found a local buyer in Bob Lurie, the case swung in favor of the city.

Nearly two decades later, Hunt was once again defending the Giants as they tried to leave town. Renne’s suit threw a number of allegations at the team, including their failure to give 30 days notice about their plans to leave for Florida. The suit also invoked a clause similar to the one in the A’s lease, Hunt said.

Hunt said the city’s case against his client was weak, but Renne says it put a roadblock in what seemed like an imminent move to the sunny climes of Tampa Bay. “If you ask most people, they’ll say that litigation turned the tide,” Renne said last week.

The secrecy around the lawsuit, she said, was to make sure that the team didn’t sue first in Florida. After filing, she told then-Mayor Frank Jordan. The suit cast a shadow on the deal. Meetings with league officials followed – and eventually Magowan bought the team. 

The A’s are currently pursuing their stadium dreams in San Jose while Oakland also readies a site near Jack London Square. The lease runs through 2011 and the team has options to renew through 2013.

Whether the legal bullet will be fired likely depends on the league committee that is studying the A’s potential move. And the A’s themselves would likely have their own claims. One thing is clear, legal experts say: The bullet exists.

And just in case anyone wants to read the actual language, here it is: 

"Licensee [A's] shall not permit or cause to occur any event that may result in the transfer of its Franchise or any of its Home Games to any other city or location or do or fail to do anything which will cause its right to play major league professional baseball in the Stadium to be lost, impaired or transferred to any other city or location."