Owners of The Forum concert venue filed a claim for damages Wednesday against the city of Inglewood for quietly entering into a deal to build a new Los Angeles Clippers arena just down the street.
The Madison Square Garden Co. claims Inglewood Mayor James Butts used a bait-and-switch strategy to coerce Forum executives into clearing the way for the project on a Century Boulevard parcel across from the NFL stadium now under construction. They say Butts persuaded them to give up their leasehold in April on part of a parking lot to make way for a new business-technology park.