DENVER-
A Denver district judge granted a summary judgment Friday rejecting former Denver Broncos owner Edgar Kaiser Jr.’s attempt to force current owner Pat Bowlen to sell him part of the team.
Kaiser, who sold his 60.8 percent share of the team to Bowlen in 1984, has already lost his case in federal court.
District Judge Michael Martinez agreed with Bowlen’s lawyers that the state case was the same as the one already filed in federal court.
Although a U.S. District Court jury ruled in 2004 in favor of Kaiser, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overruled the decision. Kaiser had argued that Bowlen had violated the sales’ agreement by offering former Broncos quarterback John Elway a share of the team and therefore should allow Kaiser to buy back part of the team under similar terms.
A three-judge panel of appellate court ruled that the way the Elway offer was structured—10 percent of shares in a company that held ownership of the team, not the team itself—was not covered by the provisions of the contract covering Kaiser’s sale to Bowlen. Elway had rejected the offer.
Kaiser’s attorney, Stephen Long, did not immediately return a message left after business hours.
