Judge sides with retired NFL players on union appeal

[Omaha Steve]

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_blog/2009/01/judge-sides-wit.html



A federal judge in San Francisco today upheld a $28.1-million award that a jury had approved last November for retired NFL players who had sued the NFL Players Assn. over a contested marketing agreement.

Jurors on Nov. 10 ordered the players union to pay $7.1 million in damages and $21 million in punitive damages after determining that the union had failed to share revenue generated by marketing agreements with companies that manufacture video games, trading cards and other products.

Former Green Bay Packer star Herb Adderly and other retired NFL players filed the class-action lawsuit in 2007.

The union had asked the court to set aside the verdict and questioned whether the hefty financial award should stand. But U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup today ruled that the verdict and monetary award were appropriate.

"The test is whether the verdict, as rendered, was supportable," Alsup wrote in the seven-page document. "The answer is yes. Nor was the verdict so far against the weight of the evidence as to warrant a new trial."

FULL story at link.