USFL Loses Its Appeal and Hope

A federal appeals court in New York Thursday rejected the United States Football League’s appeal of the $3 award it won in its antitrust suit against the National Football League, appearing to end whatever hope the USFL had of returning.

In a 3-0 decision, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the verdict of the six-person jury that awarded the USFL a token $1--trebled under antitrust law to $3--after finding the NFL liable on one of nine counts in a $1.62-billion suit in 1986.

The USFL claimed that jurors had been confused by Judge Peter K. Leisure’s instructions. But Judge Ralph K. Winter, writing the 91-page opinion for the panel that upheld the verdict, said the NFL’s activities “were hardly of sufficient impact to support a large damages verdict or to justify sweeping injunctive relief.”