Judge Upholds Verdict Against Bowling Firm

A Los Angeles judge Thursday upheld a $15.2-million jury verdict--and added $1.4 million in legal fees--in favor of a development company that complained that it was prevented from building a bowling alley in Palmdale by bowling giant Brunswick Corp., the company’s attorney said.

U. S. District Court Judge Mariana R. Pfaelzer rejected Brunswick’s motion, asking her to set aside the May antitrust damages awarded by the jury to the Los Angeles Land Co., according to the attorney for Los Angeles Land, Eliot G. Disner of Century City.

Brunswick, a Skokie, Ill.-based company that operates bowling centers nationwide, is expected to appeal the verdict and a final ruling could be a year or more away, Disner said. Brunswick was found to have tried to monopolize the Palmdale bowling market by pressuring several companies that were to have helped finance, build and supply the Los Angeles Land Co.’s own center in Palmdale, he said.