Scott Williams, swilliams@wolfrivermedia.com
DOUGLAS BURRIS
Upon further review, the call stands in a Shawano County court battle pitting Green Bay Packers fans against their former ticket broker.
A judge Friday denied a request for a new trial in the civil fraud case, which was filed against broker Douglas Burris after he sold a stockpile of coveted season tickets for Packers games at Lambeau Field.
The former ticket customers who have spent years pursuing their claim against Burris said they would consider an appeal.
A jury in November ruled that Burris was within his rights to sell the season tickets to a third party, despite complaints by nine former customers that they thought they had a long-term arrangement with the broker.
The plaintiffs requested a new trial after hearing reports that one of the jurors had said during deliberations that he personally knew Burris and that he regarded the defendant as an honest man.
Shawano-Menominee County Circuit Judge William Kussel Jr. said Friday the jury was exposed to improper outside information, but that the incident did not affect the outcome of the case. Kussel noted that the juror in question lived in Shawano at a time when Burris was a well-known business figure locally.
“It is not unusual for community members to know fairly prominent businessmen,” Kussel said.
After the judge announced his decision denying a new trial, Burris said in an interview that he has endured five difficult years defending his business dealings against the fraud allegations. Now in his mid-70s, Burris said he felt like the ordeal was a waste of time.
“Five years of this is enough,” he said. “I’m totally done.”
The former ticket customers, however, huddled with their attorney outside the courtroom and said later they were considering appealing the judge’s ruling.
Attorney Rex Anderegg, who represents the plaintiffs, said the group would make a final decision after reviewing a transcript of Kussel’s decision. All of the plaintiffs are expressing a strong desire to keep up the fight against Burris, Anderegg said.
“They’ve got a lot invested emotionally,” the attorney said. “That’s the big thing. They feel like they were wronged.”
The former Lambeau Field season ticket customers who sued Burris are Shawano residents Arlene Martin, Roger Knueppel, Ronald Malueg and Todd Otto, as well as Michael Landwehr, of Brookfield, Daryl Dehnke, of Eau Claire, Mark George Most, of River Falls, Grant George Peterson, of Merrill, and Gerald Vosen, of Merrimac.
The case centers on Burris’ activities as a ticket broker starting in 1991 when he purchased a Shawano tavern known as Stan & Bud’s, 115 N. Main St. The owners of Stan & Bud’s were longtime Packers boosters, and they owned more than 300 season tickets that were included in the tavern sale.
After building a network of customers who paid for access to his Packers tickets year after year, Burris sold the entire stockpile in 2012 for $1.4 million to a Green Bay brokerage.
The nine plaintiffs filed a civil suit accusing the Shawano businessman of fraud, breach of contract and other counts. After the jury in November ruled in Burris’ favor on nearly every count, the plaintiffs raised allegations that juror Roger MacMurray had improperly told other jurors about knowing Burris to be an honest man.
At a hearing in March, Kussel took sworn testimony from all 12 jurors, several of whom confirmed hearing MacMurray make such a statement during deliberations.
Burris’ attorney, John Bartholomew, argued that that the plaintiffs were compensating for having a weak case by exaggerating the significance of what MacMurray might have said. In written arguments, Bartholomew referred to them as “sore loser plaintiffs.”