Brenner v. World Boxing Council, s. 384

Citation675 F.2d 445
Decision Date18 March 1982
Docket Number431,D,Nos. 384,s. 384
Parties1982-1 Trade Cases 64,638 Theodore BRENNER, d/b/a Teddy Brenner Enterprises, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. WORLD BOXING COUNCIL and Jose Sulaiman Chagnon, Defendants-Appellees. ockets 81-7478, 81-7556.
CourtUnited States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (2nd Circuit)

Pamela G. Ostrager, New York City (Carleton G. Eldridge, Jr., Coudert Brothers, New York City, of counsel), for plaintiff-appellant.

Ellen S. Huvelle, Washington, D. C. (Richard M. Cooper, Williams & Connolly, Washington, D. C., Melvin Simensky, New York City, of counsel), for defendants-appellees.

Before KAUFMAN, TIMBERS and MESKILL, Circuit Judges.

MESKILL, Circuit Judge:

Theodore "Teddy" Brenner, a promoter of boxing matches, appeals from a judgment In addition, Brenner challenges the grant of appellees' motion for a directed verdict on his Section 1 conspiracy claim, the jury instructions on his group boycott claim, the trial court's handling of a witness' testimony, and the awarding of costs to appellees. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm the judgment and orders of the district court.

entered after a jury trial by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Charles M. Metzner, Judge, dismissing his complaint, which charged the World Boxing Council ("WBC") and its president, Jose Sulaiman Chagnon ("Sulaiman"), with engaging in an unlawful conspiracy and a group boycott in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1 (1976). Brenner also appeals from Judge Metzner's denial of a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or in the alternative for a new trial on the group boycott claim, and from an order preserving costs taxed against him and relieving appellees from costs previously taxed.

BACKGROUND

As this case demonstrates, when you are attempting to promote a professional championship boxing match, you had better keep your guard up. The main participants in this legal contest are Teddy Brenner, a promoter of boxing matches for over forty years, the WBC, one of the two dominant international boxing regulatory bodies, 1 its president Jose Sulaiman Chagnon, and Don King, a competitor of Brenner. Because this is an appeal from, inter alia, the dismissal of Brenner's Section 1 conspiracy claim, we will, as we must, consider the evidence, as complicated as it is, in the light most favorable to the appellant. Continental Ore Co. v. Union Carbide & Carbon Corp., 370 U.S. 690, 696 n.6, 82 S.Ct. 1404, 1409 n.6, 8 L.Ed.2d 777 (1962).

The chronology of events giving rise to this lawsuit began on January 28, 1978 when Alexis Arguello captured the WBC super featherweight championship from Alfredo Escalera. The next day, Arguello's manager, Dr. Eduardo Roman, signed a contract with fight promoter Don King for a rematch.

Months later, on July 26, Arguello and Roman entered into a contract with New York's Madison Square Garden granting the Garden the right of first refusal for all of Arguello's bouts for one year. At the time, Brenner was president of boxing at the Garden. The agreement stipulated that it would remain in effect only as long as Brenner retained that position. Brenner left the Garden and became an independent boxing promoter on September 1. One month later, Brenner signed a contract with Arguello and Roman which gave Brenner the right to promote Arguello's bouts for the next three years.

On October 20, with the Arguello contract apparently secured, Brenner contracted with CBS Sports for the telecast of an Arguello-Escalera rematch. Escalera signed a contract for the fight on October 25, but under the terms of the contract, Escalera and his business manager, Paul Sometime later Roman, despite Arguello's exclusive contract with Brenner, signed a contract with Don King for an Arguello-Arturo Leon bout. On the eve of that bout, Roman entered into another contract with King for Arguello's next fight, against Bobby Chacon. Then on November 7, 1978, Roman contracted with Brenner for an Arguello-Escalera fight to take place on February 3, 1979, provided there was no conflict with the Chacon bout.

Ruiz, retained the right to void the contract by notifying Brenner prior to November 4. On October 26, Ruiz negotiated an agreement with Don King for the promotion of the same fight, but that agreement was neither signed by Escalera nor dated. Ruiz contacted Brenner that same day and informed him of the offer from King. When Brenner agreed to up the ante, Ruiz signed an irrevocable contract with Brenner for the fight. Meanwhile, Don King predated his October 26 contract with Ruiz to September 5 and submitted it to Jose Sulaiman on October 27.

The WBC held its annual convention from December 4 through December 7, 1978. Don King attended and submitted his contracts for the Arguello-Escalera and Arguello-Chacon bouts to the convention. 2 The convention refused to certify these bouts, instead directing Arguello to defend his title against the WBC's number one rated contender, Rafael "Bazooka" Limon as required by WBC rules. 3

Shortly afterward, Brenner informed Sulaiman that he had signed contracts with Arguello and Escalera and with CBS for a rematch, and that he needed WBC sanction for the fight in order to launch his career as an independent promoter and to establish his credibility with the television networks. Sulaiman responded that although the convention had already voted to have Arguello fight Limon, he would nevertheless try to help Brenner by taking the matter back to the convention.

The following day, the convention reconsidered the matter of Arguello's next title defense, and voted to certify Brenner's Arguello-Escalera match provided three conditions were met: (1) Limon agreed to step aside; (2) Brenner's match would not be postponed; and (3) any dispute between Brenner and King over the Arguello-Escalera bout would be resolved either by agreement or in court.

Meanwhile, by letter dated December 6, 1978, Don King informed CBS that he claimed rights to the Arguello-Escalera fight. On December 8, 1978, King telegraphed Sulaiman that he had not relinquished his rights to the Arguello-Escalera fight and that he had a contract for a prior bout between Arguello and Chacon.

The following day, Roman informed King that while he had signed with King for the Arguello-Chacon bout, he had signed with Brenner for the Arguello-Escalera match. On December 11, Escalera's manager telegraphed Brenner to confirm that Brenner was the promoter of the fight.

In a December 13 telegram and a December 17 letter, Brenner reiterated to Sulaiman that he, not King, had the rights to the Arguello-Escalera fight and enclosed in the letter a copy of his exclusive contract with Arguello.

Sulaiman responded that the WBC had competing contracts submitted by King Thereafter, Brenner and King, using Sulaiman as a mediator, attempted to reach a settlement. King offered to relinquish his rights to the fight for $50,000. Brenner then retained boxing promoter Bob Arum to negotiate on his behalf. Arum counter-offered $15,000. King in turn submitted $25,000 as a settlement price. At that point, Brenner elected to handle the negotiations by himself, dismissing Arum.

and that the convention had decided that Brenner would receive WBC approval for the fight only if his dispute with King was resolved. About this time, Ruiz telephoned Sulaiman to discuss the promotion of the Arguello-Escalera fight. Sulaiman stated that he had a contract signed by Arguello for the Escalera bout to be promoted by Don King. Ruiz told Sulaiman that he had spoken to Roman, who had denied that Arguello ever signed with King. Sulaiman responded that he was going to remain neutral, and that it was up to King and Brenner to resolve the dispute.

Meanwhile, by a letter dated December 20, CBS cancelled its contract with Brenner stating that its legal department had determined that Brenner did "not own all of the necessary ancillary rights to grant to CBS Sports exclusive television broadcast rights to (the fight)." Thereafter, in an attempt to solidify his position, Brenner brought an action 4 seeking to enjoin King from interfering with Brenner's Arguello-Escalera match. On January 12, 1979, Brenner's motion for an injunction was denied.

Despite this setback, on January 12, 1979, Brenner entered into a television contract with ABC Sports for the fight. In addition, on January 17, Brenner sent Sulaiman a letter purporting to confirm that the WBC had sanctioned Brenner's Arguello-Escalera bout and that the fight took precedence over King's Arguello-Chacon fight.

On January 23, Brenner delivered to King a $25,000 check postdated to Monday, February 5, 1979, the day after the scheduled Arguello-Escalera fight as consideration for the settlement, a copy of each going to Sulaiman.

Upon receipt of Brenner's check, King called Sulaiman, protesting the postdating of the check and asking Sulaiman to stop the fight. Sulaiman refused, citing the adverse publicity that would result if the WBC cancelled a title bout on such short notice. Sulaiman did call Brenner, however, who explained that he had postdated the check to insure that the fight would take place and promised that King would be paid after the fight. By letter to Sulaiman dated January 30, 1979, King stated that in addition to the $25,000 settlement figure, the parties had agreed that King would promote a fight between the winner of the Arguello-Escalera match and Rafael Limon, and a subsequent defense against Bobby Chacon. King delivered a copy of the letter to Brenner, who, two days later, informed King and Sulaiman that because of the differing terms set forth in the letter, he had stopped payment on the check.

The Arguello-Escalera fight occurred on February 4, 1979, and Brenner realized over $14,000. Subsequently, Sulaiman tried unsuccessfully to determine whether Brenner would pay King. Then, in a February 15 letter,...

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