Photo: Getty Images
San Diego residents have filed a lawsuit against the National Football League (NFL) alleging that the league and officials with the Chargers violated NFL relocation policies when team owners approved the team's move from San Diego to Los Angeles.
According to City News Services (CNS), the suit was filed by former San Diego City Attorney Michael Aguirre and former San Diego Chief Deputy City Attorney Maria Severson on behalf of resident Ruth Henricks.
The league, NFL team owners, and the city of San Diego are named as defendants.
The suit says that a demand was made to the city of San Diego to file suit, but "with no response, this taxpayer action is filed."
The lawsuit was filed on Monday, January 24, in San Diego Superior Court. It claims that despite the team taking millions in taxpayer dollars and numerous efforts from city leaders to keep the team in San Diego, Chargers owner Dean Spanos "had already made up his mind to move the team to Los Angeles" by 2006.
In 1997, Spanos told fans that the team would remain in San Diego unless the franchise suffered "severe financial hardship." According to the lawsuit, the Chargers were worth more than $1 billion as of 2017.
A hearing in the case is set for July, according to CNS.