The Minnesota Timberwolves Limited Partnership filed a lawsuit today in Hennepin County District Court seeking resolution of a dispute with AEG, the operator of the Target Center, arising out of AEG’s failure to give its consent to the Minnesota Timberwolves’ proposal to install signs on the Second Avenue North exterior face of the Target Center.
The lawsuit alleges that the contractual arrangements relating to Target Center provide that AEG’s consent is required in order for the Minnesota Timberwolves to install additional exterior signs on Target Center, and that AEG is not permitted to withhold its consent “unreasonably.” The Minnesota Timberwolves claim AEG has unreasonably withheld its consent.
“We generally have a fine relationship with AEG and regret that we have been forced into filing this lawsuit,” said Rob Moor, CEO of the Minnesota Timberwolves. He added that the parties had engaged in months of negotiations and mediation in an effort to settle the dispute, “but the parties simply have a fundamental disagreement over our contractual rights.”
The Minnesota Timberwolves are seeking a temporary injunction to prohibit AEG from erecting signs of its own on the exterior to the Target Center or from seeking to negotiate with the City of Minneapolis or potential advertising sponsors with respect to exterior signage, asserting that AEG has no right to do so.
