With less than two weeks remaining until the start of the city's trial against the Sonics, an attorney unaffiliated with either party says this could turn into the legal equivalent of a barroom brawl if the case gets to court.

The looming question now is whether the struggle over the Sonics' lease issue at KeyArena will reach Judge Marsha Pechman's courtroom for the opening gavel on June 16 or if the sides will come to some sort of pretrial agreement.

Longtime Seattle attorney Randy Aliment said he's surprised the situation has gone this far without resolution and notes that more than 90 percent of cases are resolved out of court.

From Aliment's perspective, both parties in this particular battle have significant motivation to find a tenable solution, as does the NBA.

"You'd think the NBA would pull both sides into a room, knock their heads together and say, 'Let's get this resolved,' because it will be a bloodbath in that courtroom," said Aliment, whose Williams, Kastner & Gibbs firm represented Ken Behring when the former Seahawks owner was attempting to move his team to Los Angeles in 1996.

Aliment remembers armed guards in the lobby of his firm's office during the highly emotional Behring situation, which ultimately was settled out of court when Behring agreed to sell the Seahawks to Paul Allen.

The Sonics case could get even more heated if it reaches Pechman's U.S. District courtroom, given the lengthy run-up of legal machinations, a number of well-publicized e-mails and other evidence and the fact the NBA has already approved a move of the franchise to Oklahoma City once it receives legal clearance from its KeyArena lease that is scheduled to expire after the 2009-10 season.

Aliment said both sides have hired the best trial lawyers in Seattle and he expects a no-holds-barred situation should the case proceed as scheduled.


Davis filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NFL in 1982 when the league attempted to block his move to Los Angeles. Aliment said the issues are different in this case and in a suit filed by former Sonics owner Howard Schultz seeking to rescind the sale to Clay Bennett's ownership group, but the bottom line remains.

"In legal battles, it's all about a dispute," Aliment said. "Whether you're talking about antitrust or breach of contract or whatever, it's a fistfight. So lawyers are reaching into their bag to figure out whatever legal theory will rule the day.

"Here you've got breach of lease, you've got breach of contract, you've got fraud. But bottom line, what you really have is a fight. Somebody is trying to steal the team, somebody wants to keep the team, and that's all the city knows and all Clay Bennett knows

"That's why the NBA has to be looking at this thing saying, 'We've got to put a stop to this' or who knows where the fallout will end? Because once that fistfight erupts in court, it's like a bar where eventually it spills out into the street. You'd think somebody would want to stop this before it goes that far."

Aliment feels NBA commissioner David Stern should be concerned about how Seattle's situation is being viewed by other cities around the league and the precedent that would be set by the upcoming court battle, not to mention the potential ugliness of the Sonics playing two lame-duck seasons at KeyArena after the league has already approved their departure.

Both the city and the Sonics' owners have risks in proceeding to trial. Even if they win, the Sonics almost surely would face an appeals process that would prevent the team from moving to Oklahoma City by next season, which means at least another year of $30 million in losses while playing at KeyArena.

Additionally, Schultz's lawsuit looms as another hurdle in Bennett's path.

The city runs the risk of pushing for a solution without a clear-cut victory, given that the Sonics will be free to leave in two years even if the city wins its case to enforce the lease, unless Schultz's suit also succeeds.

Additionally, Aliment says that while the city's case appears strong, judges frequently hesitate to keep two warring parties together in a binding lease agreement and often award financial damages instead of insisting on a "specific performance" request such as forcing the Sonics to play their games in a bad situation.

Is there room to settle?

"From the city's standpoint, forced occupation here is going to be a difficult proposition because the team would only be here two years, the NBA is going to be upset and the prospects for a team long-term are problematic," Aliment said. "Some type of mediated solution where Bennett can take his toys back to Oklahoma and the city gets a different team, or Bennett gets a new team and we keep our Sonics, would obviously be the best.

"But it's going to take participation by the NBA and other owners to approve something like that," he said. "That's a tall order, as evidenced by the fact it hasn't been done yet."

If the sides are negotiating, they're doing so quietly, which would be expected at this juncture. Most cases come down to last-minute settlements and it's possible for an agreement to be made even during or after a trial. The questions are: Who has the most leverage and are both sides willing to give?

Pechman has a pretrial conference scheduled for Friday, at which she'll hand down rulings on motions by both sides, outline trial requirements and see if there is settlement progress.

From Aliment's perspective, it's surprising the situation has come this far.

"It can still happen and I have no firsthand knowledge of any of this," he said. "But one would think the NBA would get these parties together and say, 'Clay Bennett, you have a team. Seattle, you want a team. Let's let the team go to Oklahoma City and you will get your team in (some future) season.' And then have a squaring up of the money."

Should the battle actually be waged in court, Aliment says it's possible there will be no winners in the big picture, given the black eye the NBA would receive as well as the mixed legal bag that likely will remain even once a decision is rendered.

"It's like if your kid comes home and says, 'I got in a fight today, but I beat him,' " Aliment said. "And you look at your kid and his face is all bloodied and bruised. I just think someone has to step in and stop this thing and find a solution."