Clay Bennett wants fans' suit dismissed

In a motion filed Thursday, attorneys for Clay Bennett asked U.S. District Court Judge Richard Jones for summary judgment regarding a claim for injunctive relief in a class-action lawsuit.

Sonics fans Robert Brotherson, Patrick Sheehy and Carolyn Bechtel filed the suit in November, claiming the Professional Basketball Club misled fans into purchasing tickets for the 2007-08 season on the premise the team would play two additional seasons in Seattle. The plaintiffs cite what they describe as a deceptive marketing plan and charge that PBC breached its contract when it failed to honor promises and moved the team.

Part of the proposed remedy would force the team to play games at KeyArena through 2010.

In Thursday's motion, Bennett's attorney Steven Minson said the plaintiffs have a "fatal misunderstanding of the rights of a ticketholder."

Tickets are revocable licenses, according to the motion, and when the Sonics moved "any hope that plaintiffs could renew their season tickets left with them."

Minson said there's no precedent for the fans' claim and the only remedy is monetary relief.

"Neither the City of Seattle nor the NBA are parties here, but plaintiffs claim a right to have this Court drag the team and the NBA back for two more years of games plaintiffs don't intend to buy tickets for, or attend, at a venue the team no longer has a right to use," he wrote in the motion. "This is absurd. No such contract right exists, and plaintiffs' claim for injunctive relief must be dismissed."

Attorneys for the fans must respond by Aug. 18, and the defendant can reply no later than Aug. 22. Jones has 30 days to rule on the summary judgment request after Aug. 22.

Stern, NBA reply

in Schultz lawsuit

NBA commissioner David Stern said in a court filing Friday that he did not make threatening remarks to former Sonics owner Howard Schultz.

Stern signed a three-paragraph declaration confirming he had spoken with Schultz on June 25 about Schultz's decision to continue with his lawsuit.

Schultz claimed in a court filing last week that Stern told him during the conversation that the effort would become "very expensive" for Schultz if he did not enter the city's settlement.

Stern disputed that version of their talk.

"At no time during the conversation did I threaten Mr. Schultz in any way — either expressly or implicitly — regarding his continuation of this lawsuit or any other matter," Stern wrote in the reply filed Friday to U.S. District Court Judge Marsha Pechman.

In his court filing, Stern described a "pleasant and amiable conversation" with Schultz that covered social and business issues and wrote that he didn't understand why Schultz would "go to the hassle and expense" of pursuing his lawsuit if the city was settling.

In the reply, the NBA described arguments to bar the league from intervening in Schultz's suit against Bennett as a "preposterous proposition."

Citing numerous cases, attorney Ralph Palumbo of the Seattle-based Summit Law Group wrote in the reply brief that precedent exists for the league to intervene. He rejected Schultz's plan, which would have the NBA intervene after liability has been established, because "the Release is inextricably bound to the liability issues."

The Associated Press

contributed to this article.