CARLSBAD — The New York Yankees won against the Boston Red Sox in a costly baseball feud that took place in court rather than on the field.

“This case had nothing to do with money,” plaintiff Mario Melendez said May 7 after a jury awarded him $25,297 for injuries he sustained nearly two years ago from a bar fight. “Justice was done; the jury found the right person guilty.”

The panel awarded Melendez $15,297 for medical and loss of wages, as well as $10,000 for punitive damages stemming from the July 3, 2006, altercation with defendant David Sanborn at Grand Avenue Bar and Grill in Carlsbad.

Melendez, a professional musician, tore ligaments in his right middle finger when he delivered a haymaker to Sanborn during the fight instigated by the defendant over a New York Yankee’s baseball game.

The 51-year-old Melendez, a lifelong Yankee’s fan who resides in Carlsbad, testified Sanborn, a Boston Red Sox fan, and his wife, a server at the restaurant, started to taunt him and spout expletives because of the plaintiff’s Yankee’s T-shirt and his reaction to the televised baseball game.

As the two men confronted each other, Melendez testified he told the defendant that they could take their differences outside.

It was at that point that Melendez said he feared for himself and his elderly father because Sanborn grabbed him around his waist, which prompted him to knock Sanborn out with the first and only punch of the fight.

Despite attorney Richard Martha’s argument that both men touched each other “simultaneously” and that Melendez used unreasonable force because he’s at least 100 pounds heavier than Sanborn, the jury unanimously agreed that the Melendez’s force was sound and that the injury that he sustained from punching Sanborn was a direct result from the defendant grabbing at his waist.

Juror Bob Berry of Oceanside said he believed Melendez aggravated the situation by asking Sanborn to step outside. However, Berry said if it wasn’t for Sanborn’s explicit and physical instigation then Melendez wouldn’t have been in the situation.

Attorney Larry Haines, who represented Melendez, said he hoped the case would send a message to the community that there are consequences to people’s uncivilized actions.

Criminal charges were never filed against either party; however, Sanborn was arrested shortly after the altercation for being drunk in public.