CLEVELAND — A state court judge has rejected a request from Haslam Sports Group to throw out a lawsuit filed by the city of Cleveland over the Browns’ looming move to Brook Park.
On Friday morning, Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Lauren C. Moore denied the team’s motion to dismiss the case.
“The Browns have made it clear that they will not fulfill their contractual duties with the City,” Moore wrote, noting that Haslam Sports Group has been open about its moving plans, recently bought 176 acres for the Brook Park development and is assembling public and private money for the project – a $2.4 billion enclosed stadium flanked by $800 million to $1 billion of mixed-use development.
“The issue of the Browns leaving the City of Cleveland is (no) longer hypothetical,” the judge added.
Cleveland filed the lawsuit in January, alleging that the Browns are violating Ohio’s so-called Art Modell law – a law that gives communities more leverage when teams want to leave taxpayer-supported facilities.
The city’s lawyers also say the team is in breach on its lease at the existing stadium. That lease includes language that requires the Browns to follow state laws and, throughout the lease term, “hold, maintain and defend” the team’s rights to play in Cleveland – and not negotiate with anyone in a way that will cause those rights to be lost or relocated.
The lease also says the Browns shall not “modify the franchise” to permit the team to play its home games “in any other city or location.”
During a court hearing last month, attorneys for the Browns said the city’s lawsuit is premature. They asked Moore to dismiss the case – or to put it on hold while a separate but related federal court case played out.
That federal court case, filed by Haslam Sports Group against the city in October, is a challenge to the Modell law. The Browns say the state law is unconstitutional and vague. And they’ve argued, since last fall, that the law shouldn’t apply to their planned move from Cleveland to a neighboring suburb, once their existing stadium lease expires in early 2029.
Republican state lawmakers recently changed the wording of the Modell law so that it will only apply to cases where teams are trying to leave the state.
That change, a late-in-the-game addition to the state budget bill, will take effect in late September:
The federal court judge recently pressed pause on the Browns’ lawsuit in light of the legislature’s actions. Moore cited that pause in her decision on Friday.
“Because the Federal action is stayed indefinitely, the Court finds that the issue of staying the Common Please case during the pendency of the Federal Court case is moot,” she wrote. “Therefore, the Defendants’ Motion to Stay is denied.”
On July 1, the city’s lawyers said the federal court’s stay makes the state court case even more urgent. “If it were not obvious before, it is now,” Justin Herdman of the Jones Day law firm wrote in a court filing. “This Ohio action, focused on the Browns’ breach of their lease, is the only way to resolve the claims between these parties and provide the much-needed finality that both parties seek.”
On Friday morning, a Browns spokesman responded to Moore's decision with an emailed statement.
"We are as confident as ever in our legal position and look forward to a prompt resolution of the city's meritless claims," wrote Peter John-Baptiste, the chief communications officer for Haslam Sports Group. "Our organization is complying with our obligations under the current stadium lease and will continue to do so through the end of its term. We remain focused on moving forward with a new world-class enclosed Hungtington Bank Field in Brook Park."
On Wednesday, Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb and Law Director Mark Griffin told News 5 that the litigation isn’t over, despite interference from state lawmakers:
During that interview, Griffin said there’s still a legal path for the city to follow – “both under the lease but also under the original Modell law, as well.”
In an emailed statement sent Friday morning, Griffin wrote, "We appreciate Judge Moore's diligence in thoughtfully applying the law and look forward to further addressing the merits of our case in her court."
On Wednesday, Bibb said Cleveland taxpayers have spent almost half a billion dollars since 1999 on the lakefront stadium. The ongoing court fight is about protecting that investment, whether the Browns end up staying or moving to the suburbs.
“We’re trying to keep fighting for Cleveland’s future, because that’s what our residents deserve,” the mayor said.
