Sonics Fans and Clay Bennett Near $1.6 Million Settlement

In an earlier story on The Sunbreak ("The Little Sonics Lawsuit that Could"), I referenced the progress of a little class-action lawsuit between former Seattle Supersonic season ticket holders and Oklahoma’s own version of Valdemort, Clay Bennett and his cronies in the Professional Basketball Club, the owners of the Oklahoma Thunder.

According to a story on Seattlepi.com, Bennett and the other Thunder owners have settled the lawsuit and agreed to pay $1.6 million in damages, to be split among the ticketholders represented in the class action. (This outcome pleases me, I should add, because I'm a former Sonics ticketholder.)

The presiding judge in the case, the Honorable Richard A. Jones, has not yet signed off on the joint agreement to settle. There is no timetable for his ruling and the documents contained in the joint motion for approval of a settlement stipulate that members of the class action must be notified of the settlement details before the agreement is final.

"This is what I expected to happen," said Michael A. Maxwell, a Seattle attorney and the SunBreak’s legal correspondent. "All along, Bennett thought the judge would throw out this case. When he didn’t, he was caught in a very bad position."

Early in 2009, both sides asked Judge Jones for a summary judgment, which he did in February. The judgment, which can be read online at www.sonicsclassaction.com, threw out many of the complaints of both parties, but left intact the plaintiffs’ claim that the Sonics entered into a contract with ticketholders and then broke that contract.

Then he wrote the words that, no doubt, struck fear into the heart of Bennett: "A jury must decide what damages are, and whether those damages were within the reasonable expectation of the parties when they entered the Emerald Club Contract."

"Once the judge made that ruling, Bennett really had no option but to settle," said Maxwell. "The only other option would be a jury trial in Seattle. Let’s face it, there isn’t a more unfriendly location in the world for Bennett to face a jury trial. With the outcome in the hands of a jury, and with no limit on the scope of damages, Bennett picked up the phone and started the ball rolling on a settlement."

The $1.6 million award would be split among the former season ticketholders based on the original cost and location of their tickets. To date, this is the only successful lawsuit against the group that orchestrated the relocation of the once-proud Sonics of Seattle to the distant Thunder of the Oklahoman wastelands.

It’s not much of a revenge, but hey, every little bit helps.