German ATP Event Drops Claim Of Witness Tampering During Trial
By Daniel Kaplan, Staff Writer, SportsBusiness Journal
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German ATP Event Drops Claim That Group
Engaged In Witness Tampering Last October |
The German tournament suing the ATP World Tour for antitrust violations has dropped its claim of last October that the group had engaged in witness tampering during the build up to the initial trial. In a brief filed Friday with the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, organizers for the Hamburg, Germany, event cited four of the five reasons they gave in October in appealing their district court loss. But the most sensationalistic was the witness tampering, a reference to a letter sent by the ATP to IMG, which Hamburg saw as an effort to prevent IMG's employees from testifying. They did not testify. The four appeal points included in the brief revolve largely around the core issues of alleged antitrust and fiduciary violations. Hamburg alleged that the ATP's new '09 calendar, which saw Hamburg demoted, was an abuse of power. Hamburg maintained the district court judge during the August case improperly instructed the jury that the ATP was a single entity, akin to a league. That largely protected the ATP from antitrust claims. The appeal also singled out former ATP BOD member Charlie Pasarell, the Indian Wells Tournament Dir. The appeal charged he breached his fiduciary duties by not recusing himself in voting for the schedule change, because it benefited his tourney. The appeal also charged the district court judge erred in dismissing the other charges against individual board members. An ATP response is not expected until late July. The ATP did ask the appeals court Friday to continue to seal from public view a large amount of information that received such treatment during the initial trial.
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