Posted on 07/02/2007 12:53:32 PM PDT by SmithL
SAN FRANCISCO -- The state Supreme Court denied a new trial to the Oakland Raiders today in the team's $1.2 billion lawsuit accusing the National Football league of forcing it out of Los Angeles in 1995 by sabotaging plans for a new stadium.
The court ruled unanimously that the Raiders had failed to prove misconduct by members of a Los Angeles jury that returned a 9-3 verdict in favor of the NFL in 2001.
The judge in the case had set the verdict aside and granted a new trial to the Raiders, finding improper conduct by at least one of the jurors. But the court said today the judge had failed to specify which juror acted improperly and exactly what was done wrong.
With some jurors claiming misconduct by fellow juror members and others denying it, the Raiders have been unable to show conclusively that any wrongdoing occurred, the court said.
As Justice Marvin Baxter put it, the Raiders managed to "snatch defeat from the jaws of victory'' because of the trial judge's errors.
The ruling appears to be the final chapter in a long-running effort by Al Davis, the Raiders' managing partner, to show that NFL officials undermined his plans to keep the team in the larger and more lucrative Southern California market.
The Raiders have also been unsuccessful in a separate legal dispute with Oakland authorities over the team's claim that it was misled about advance ticket sales when it returned to Oakland from Los Angeles.
The Raiders moved to Los Angeles in 1982 after winning an antitrust suit against the league, which opposed the move. They returned 13 years later after trying to relocate from the Los Angeles Coliseum to a planned new stadium at Hollywood Park in Inglewood, which was never built.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
FYI
Didn’t the Raiders get to keep the money that (I thought it was Irvindale, not Inglewood) gave them to lure them to LA?
If anything, Irvindale should be suing the Raiders...
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