Orange County Circuit Court Judge Ted Coleman denied Disney's motions to throw out the suit, reduce the judgment amount, and order a new trial. At the same time, the judge also rejected a motion by All Pro Sports principals Nicholas Stracick and Edward Russell to have Disney pay their $5-million in legal fees and grant additional damages that would triple the original jury award to $720 million.

Instead, Coleman gave the defendants only an extra $100 in damages because he found Disney didn't act maliciously or willfully. The August jury found Disney guilty of misappropriating trade secrets, making fraudulent and negligent misrepresentations, and breaching confidential relationships with the two defendants in the five years prior to the construction of the Wide World of Sports complex.

Stracick and Russell accused Disney officials of stealing their idea for the complex after they showed conceptual drawings to Disney representatives. Disney immediately appealed the judge's decision to Florida's Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal in Daytona Beach, FL.