This is ugly. The A.C.L.U. has filed suit against the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, former Army Chief of Staff Eric Shinseki, and the V.A. Regional Health Director Donna M. Beiter. The suit is brought in the name of several veterans and one veterans’ organization. The federal district court class action lawsuit alleges the V.A. is misusing property on the West Los Angeles Medical Center & Community Living Center campus. The property was donated in 1888 to the V.A.’s predecessor for the sole purpose to create a home for disabled veterans. According to the suit, 110 acres of the 387 acre campus, are used for other than the protection of veterans in violation of the 1888 deed.
Pages 8 and 57 of the A.C.L.U. suit alleges that U.C.L.A. uses Jackie Robinson Stadium on part of the 110 acres, not for the betterment of disabled veterans, but to play baseball—not a stated purpose in the 1888 deed. On page 68 of the complaint, the A.C.L.U. seeks to have the V.A. enjoined from using the West Los Angeles Medical Center & Community Living Center campus for any purpose other than providing a home for disabled veterans. That’s legal beagle mumbo jumbo for the Bruins can get evicted from Jackie Robinson Stadium—no ifs, ands, or buts.
How this will play out of course nobody knows. The suit may settle and we can keep on playing at Jackie Robinson Stadium. There have been extensive settlement discussions. Or, worse could come to worse and we may be playing at one of those Little League fields on Sepulveda just south of Wilshire. Or, it may all be untrue; although that’s hard to believe. The judge has ruled the suit can proceed, except for some fiduciary duty claims, so that leaves the future of U.C.L.A. baseball in Jackie Robinson Stadium potentially up in the air.
GO BRUINS (which may be what will happen)!