Judge Marsha Pechman has ruled against Harold Schultz on his request to "bifurcate" or split his lawsuit against Clay Bennett's ownership group into two parts but ruled in favor of the NBA's request to intervene in the case, Greg Johns of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer is reporting.

Schultz, the former owner of the SuperSonics, has been trying to win back the team for Seattle.

"The sooner the Schultz lawsuit is heard, the sooner PBC [Professional Basketball Club, the owners of the Oklahoma City franchise] will prevail," said Brad Keller, lead attorney for Bennett's legal team. "Schultz failed in his effort to stall the day of reckoning for his meritless claims."

Schultz's attorney Richard Yarmuth had pushed to split the process into an initial "liability phase" trial to determine whether Bennett's ownership group committed fraud in misleading Schultz's Basketball Club of Seattle concerning its willingness to find an arena solution in Seattle.

Yarmuth felt the second "remedy phase" would then only be necessary if Schultz won the first battle, which would effectively have eliminated the NBA's role in the initial trial since the league's involvement centers primarily on what happens if ownership of the team is removed from Bennett's group.

But Pechman said the situation needs to be resolved quickly and "involves time-sensitive issues with potential ramifications for multiple third parties."