Anheuser-Busch, Maris Family Settle Lawsuit

The family of former home run king Roger Maris and Anheuser-Busch Cos. settled a defamation lawsuit stemming from the brewer’s termination of the family’s beer distributorship just as jurors reached a verdict Tuesday.

Neither side disclosed terms of the settlement, which came as the all-female jury reached a decision that was sealed, on the second day of deliberations in a three-week trial in state civil court. The Maris family had been seeking as much as $5 billion.

The agreement encompasses the defamation lawsuit and a $50-million jury award that the Marises had won against the nation’s largest brewer in 2001 for ending their beer distributorship contract in 1997. That award had been tied up on appeal.

Walking out of the courtroom, Anheuser-Busch Executive Vice President John Jacob, one of the company executives accused of making defamatory remarks, said, “It’s over.”

Maris’ relatives accused the brewer of defamation after company executives publicly said the family’s distributorship was deficient and sold repackaged, out-of-date beer. The family claimed in court that St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch plotted to destroy their reputation as part of a larger scheme to seize the best-performing distributors for Busch family relatives and friends.

“We settled this case today,” said Maris attorney Willie Gary. “We settled the 2001 case and any other cases that may have been out there.... Both parties are going to go their separate ways.”

The legal fight between Anheuser-Busch and the Maris family had consumed eight years, three trials and millions of dollars in legal fees. The company had given Roger Maris and his brother, Rudy, the distributorship after the slugger ended his career in 1968 with the St. Louis Cardinals, which it then owned. Roger Maris died in 1985.

“We’re just glad it’s over,” said Roger Maris Jr., son of the baseball legend. “It’s been a long process.”

Calling himself “happy” with the decision, Rudy Maris said the family would probably try to get into another business.

The judge sealed the verdict, but juror Mabel Johnson said several hours later, “There were a couple of statements that I think should have been retracted by Anheuser-Busch. The other girls felt the same way.”

But to conclude that Anheuser-Busch had defamed the Maris family, the jurors needed to determine that executives intentionally made false statements. But Johnson said, “We figured it wasn’t an intentional act.”

Anheuser-Busch shares rose 4 cents to $44.45.