Opinion ID: 471004
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: damages: sufficiency of the evidence

Text: 40 As indicated above, we undertake only limited review of jury damages awards, in order to avoid encroaching upon the jury's proper function under the Constitution. The NFL launches various assaults upon the sufficiency of the evidence, but we find nothing in these to justify any interference with the damages verdicts. After examining the record in light of the NFL's contentions on appeal, we conclude that the jury's awards are supported by substantial evidence, and are neither grossly excessive nor based upon mere speculation. 41 While we do not respond explicitly to each of the NFL's many allegations of error, we do note the NFL's arguments that the Raiders and the Coliseum failed to prove the requisite causal links between the NFL's antitrust violation and certain elements of the alleged damages. Recovery will not be permitted for injuries which have been independently caused by something other than the antitrust violation. See Zenith Radio Corp. v. Hazeltine Research, Inc., 395 U.S. 100, 126-28, 89 S.Ct. 1562, 1578-79, 23 L.Ed.2d 129 (1969). However, a plaintiff need not prove that the antitrust violation was the only cause of its injury in order to recover damages under 15 U.S.C. Sec. 15; proof that the violation was a material cause is sufficient. Id. at 114 n. 9, 89 S.Ct. at 1571 n. 9; William Inglis & Sons, 668 F.2d at 1051. 42 In the present case, the jury's implicit findings of causation of damages were generally supported by substantial evidence. The only possible instances where appellees' submitted damages estimates may have been unfounded because of a lack of proof of causation were: their claims for lost profits that would have been earned had luxury stadium boxes been built in the Coliseum and rented for the Raiders' 1980 football season, and perhaps also part of the Raiders' claim for the reduced value of a loan whose receipt was delayed as a result of the NFL's violation. 43 Even if we eliminate these questionable elements of appellees' claims, however, the jury had before it sufficient evidence, including the attendance and seat price estimates offered by the Raiders, on which to reach the damages amounts it awarded to both parties. Even a total inadequacy of proof on isolated elements of damages claims submitted to a jury will not undermine a resulting aggregated verdict which is nevertheless reasonable in light of the totality of the evidence. If we find that a jury's damages award exceeds the maximum amount sustainable by the probative evidence, we will not hesitate to order a remission of the excess by the plaintiff or, in the alternative, a new trial. See D & S Redi-Mix v. Sierra Redi-Mix & Contracting Co., 692 F.2d 1245, 1249 (9th Cir.1982); Fenner v. Dependable Trucking Co., 716 F.2d 598, 602-03 (9th Cir.1983). But where, as here, the jury's verdicts find substantial support in the record and lie within the range sustainable by the proof, we will not play Monday morning quarterback and supplant the jury's evaluation of the complex and conflicting evidence with our own. Segal v. Gilbert Color Systems, Inc., 746 F.2d 78, 80-81 (1st Cir.1984); see, e.g., W.A. Wright, Inc. v. KDI Sylvan Pools, Inc., 746 F.2d 215, 219 (3d Cir.1984).