The months-long lawsuit between members of the family that owns the majority stake in the Baltimore Orioles has been settled, according to an industry source with knowledge of the situation but not authorized to speak publicly.
The attorneys representing John Angelos, Louis Angelos and their mother, Georgia, as well as an attorney appointed to represent incapacitated family patriarch, Peter G. Angelos, signed off on the motion which drops all legal grievances, the source said. The motion, which was filed Friday in Baltimore County Circuit Court, states all of the complaints were dismissed with prejudice, meaning the suits, countersuits and other defenses cannot be filed again, effectively ending the legal saga.
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Terms of the settlement have not been released due to a confidentiality agreement. The motion had not yet been released as of Monday morning.
The action quietly puts to end a very public and ugly struggle for power among the heirs of Peter Angelos, a 93-year-old billionaire who bought majority interest in the Orioles in 1993 and maintained control of decision-making powers until some point in 2017, when he became debilitated by a heart issue that ultimately affected his mental faculties.
In June, Louis Angelos, 53, filed suit in Baltimore County Circuit Court alleging that his brother and mother conspired to push him out of the family’s fortune, including ownership of the Orioles as well as the family’s law firm, which Louis had been running for roughly five years.
He alleged that John, 55 and the CEO of the Orioles who was accepted by Major League Baseball as the organization’s “point person” in 2020, manipulated his mother to give him unilateral control of the franchise. Louis Angelos also stated that the family had a two-point plan to sell its interest in the team, but it was nixed by John.
Georgia Angelos, 80, filed a countersuit in August, claiming Louis Angelos had, in effect, stolen the family’s law firm by selling it to himself.
In January, a conservator was appointed by the courts to oversee the law firm, taking away Louis Angelos’ operation of the firm. And Louis Angelos filed an amended complaint that month alleging his brother and mother had pilfered $65 million from his father’s personal accounts.
The Baltimore Sun first reported the filing of the motion to dismiss.
Meanwhile, the Orioles have yet to sign a long-term lease to remain at Camden Yards, but John Angelos repeatedly has said the team will stay in Baltimore for the long term. The lease expires at the end of December, but one Orioles source said a long-term extension likely will be signed before the end of the 2023 baseball season. There is $600 million available in improvement funding from the Maryland state legislature when a long-term deal is completed.
Required reading
- Opening the Orioles’ books? Much could be learned if John Angelos kept his promise
- Orioles hired Goldman to assess sale, source says, but litigation likely to keep team with Angelos for now
- Orioles chairman John Angelos says team ‘will never leave’ Baltimore
(Photo: Scott Taetsch / USA Today)