Two of the team's season ticket holders jointly filed a lawsuit in King County Superior Court on Monday, accusing the team of false advertising to ticket buyers who purchased tickets under the impression that the Sonics would play in Seattle through 2010.
The lawsuit comes one week after the city of Seattle filed a complaint against the team in an attempt to force the Sonics to remain in Washington until their arena contract expires in 2010.
A spokesman for the Sonics' ownership group said the group would have no comment on the fans' lawsuit.
In the complaint, Carolyn Bechtel, a 58-year-old Kirkland, Wash. resident, and Patrick Sheehy, a 36-year-old Seattle resident, are seeking a class-action suit against the Sonics for breach of contract and a violation of Washington's Consumer Protection Act.
The complaint seeks an unspecified amount of monetary damages and attorney fees.
The suit claims that a letter from the team was sent to potential season ticket buyers soon after Sonics Chairman Clay Bennett and his ownership group purchased the franchise in July 2006.
The letter, according to the suit, promised that season ticket buyers for the 2007-08 season would be guaranteed the opportunity to purchase tickets at the same price until the 2009-10 season.
"(The ownership group) purposefully created this impression in an attempt to persuade season ticket holders to renew their tickets despite the fact that it knew or should have known,” the lawsuit reads, "that the Sonics' future in Seattle for the next three seasons was at best uncertain and more likely than not the team was going to be moved to (the ownership group's) home, Oklahoma City, Okla.”
The two fans are represented by a law firm that the Seattle-based fan group Save Our Sonics and Storm, which has fought to prevent the team from relocating to Oklahoma since the team was sold last year, helped arrange.
Tom Baisch, one of the attorney's representing the fans, said neither fan has purchased season tickets beyond this season.
"But if they would have known that the team was going to leave then they would not have purchased the season tickets the first year when they were locking in the price,” Baisch said.
Bennett has said that he would apply with the NBA for relocation to Oklahoma City if an agreement for a new publicly-funded, state-of-the-art arena was not reached by Oct. 31.
The Sonics recently filed an arbitration demand in an attempt to prohibit the city of Seattle from holding them to the final two years of the arena agreement.
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Two Seattle season ticket holders filed a lawsuit?
Only an idiot would not have known that the Sonics are going to relocate to OKC. I think this is a 'pulling straws' event (just like the city's lawsuit), intent on making it difficult for the Sonics - when in reality, it is making the decision to relocate all the more certain! The letter did not say that the Sonics would be in Seattle, it said only that purchasers could lock in the pricing; which they most certainly can do (regardless of where the Sonics are located). I am so ashamed/pissed of these idiots! They and the SOS (Slobs Of Seattle) are making it so that we will NEVER get a new NBA team. The smart thing to do would have been 1) build an arena or 2) settle with the Sonics getting as much cash and try to get a new team later. I hope the courts dismiss both this class-less action suit and the city; putting Seattle back in its place.
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. . . What about the other three?