LITIGATION: Judge Re-opens Raiders vs. NFL
LOS ANGELES -- Reuters reports the largest U.S. city without a major-league football team now may be years away from getting one while the NFL and the Oakland Raiders skirmish in court over who "owns" the Los Angeles market. A Superior Court judge in Los Angeles on Monday granted the Raiders a new trial in their $1.2 billion lawsuit against the National Football League after determining there were possible instances of misconduct by members of the Los Angeles jury that voted 9-3 in the NFL's favor last year.
The Raiders' lawyer cited two instances of alleged juror misconduct: when a juror told five other panelists that he hated the Raiders and Davis and would never find in their favor, and when a juror who was an attorney posted her own version of jury instructions in the jury room.
The team is seeking $1.2 billion in damages because "that is the amount they lost because they had to go back to Oakland, and the only reason they went to Oakland was because they couldn't make a deal in L.A.," the lawyer said. The Raiders also are locked in a legal battle with the city of Oakland, which sued the team in 1997 claiming the team had interfered with naming rights to Network Associates Coliseum.
The team counter-sued for $1 billion, contending the team agreed to come to Oakland only after the city falsely claimed to have sold out the stadium in advance.
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