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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, didn't immediately return a
message left after business hours.
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