Dallas Stars appeal court ruling giving Mavericks control of American Airlines Center

The high-profile legal battle did not go to trial in Texas Business Court as scheduled in May after the Mavericks defeated the Stars in every significant pretrial ruling, including three this month. But the case now heads to the Texas 15th Court of Appeals for further opinion. Joshua Sandler of Winstead PC, who leads the Stars’ legal team, told The News earlier this year that the team has prevailed in multiple appeals within the last year, including one the Texas Supreme Court affirmed. The Stars’ appellate team also includes former Texas Supreme Court chief justice Wallace B. Jefferson. The Stars had sought an interlocutory appeal, which is granted before a case’s final judgment is issued, but Texas Business Court Judge Bill Whitehill denied that request in one of his rulings this month. Whitehill also ruled the Mavericks had a legal right to declare the Stars in breach of both teams’ 1998 franchise agreements, which required them to maintain their principal headquarters in Dallas. Although the breach occurred in 2003, when the Stars moved their headquarters to Frisco, Whitehill ruled the Mavericks also were within their right to enact a $110 redemption claim they made in October 2024 for the Stars’ 50% interest in Center Operating Company, which controls AAC. The Stars asked Whitehill to reconsider his April ruling that the Mavericks did not exceed the statute of limitations when they cited the Stars’ breach more than two decades after it occurred, but Whitehill reiterated that ruling. In addition to the results of the appeal, what remains in question is what will become of both teams’ monthly AAC disbursements that have been held in escrow for about a year. As of October of last year, Stars CEO Brad Alberts told The News his team’s escrowed disbursements were in the tens of millions of dollars. It also remains unclear how the courts’ decisions will affect American Airlines Center operations for the next five years until the lease expires in 2031 — and whether the decision could prompt the Stars to leave Dallas for a new home in Plano.