Oakland Raiders v. NATIONAL FOORBALL LEAGUE

The Oakland Raiders (hereafter Raiders) football club has sued the National Football League (hereafter NFL), 16 NFL clubs, and many other NFL-related persons and entities, generally alleging that NFL leadership has been marked by abuse of power, neglect of duties, mismanagement, discriminatory rule enforcement, inappropriate favoritism, and back room dealmaking which has resulted in damage to the Raiders. The fourth amended and supplemental complaint alleges 22 causes of action. Defendants made several successful motions for summary adjudication. Because the orders disposed of all causes of action against the club defendants, Austrian, and all but two of the entity defendants,* the trial court entered judgment as to those defendants. The Raiders appeals, and we affirm the judgment.

Appealability

Preliminarily, the Raiders urges that this appeal should be dismissed because the trial court had no authority to enter a piecemeal judgment. It acknowledges that Code of Civil Procedure section 579 gives a trial court discretion to render judgment against one defendant and allow the action to proceed against other defendants whenever a several judgment is proper. But it argues…