California court upholds $26m award against Sabres owner

LOS ANGELES - A California state appeals court has upheld a US$26-million award in a fraud lawsuit against the owner of the NHL's Buffalo Sabres and a company he founded.

The court in Los Angeles affirmed previous jury verdicts against Tom Golisano, Rapid Payroll Inc. and others on Tuesday.

Rapid licensed software to payroll processing businesses. In 2001, it abruptly cancelled the license for a Palm Desert firm called Computer Payroll Co.

The lawsuit alleges breach of contract, claiming the cancellation was made after Rapid was acquired by a firm called Paychex and was aimed at destroying a Paychex rival.

Paychex was founded by Golisano.

A call seeking comment from a lawyer for the defendants wasn't immediately returned Wednesday.