Baseball players union loses Supreme Court appeal

(Washington-AP) -- The U-S Supreme Court has refused without comment to kill a lawsuit against the Major League Baseball Players Association filed by an Oklahoma baseball card marketer.

The lawsuit stemmed from Cardtoons' plan to sell satirical trading cards.

At issue was when a company can be held legally liable for threatening to sue another company.

The union sent a letter demanding Cardtoons and Champs Marketing Incorporated stop making and marketing the cards. The union threatened legal action if the companies didn't agree. Champs subsequently pulled out of the deal.

Oklahoma-based Cardtoons sued the union, saying the players'

association had interfered with its contractual relationship. The union filed a counter claim.

Cardtoon's lawsuit now returns to a federal trial judge who must decided whether state-law protection exists for the players union's threatening letter.