Prospect of Jury Trial May Push Mets to Settle Madoff Case As in any civil case, there has always been a chance that the owners of the Mets and the trustee for the victims of Bernard L. Madoff's Ponzi scheme could settle before trial. But across the past year of acrimony, that prospect has often seemed remote. The owners, outraged at the accusations of the trustee, said they were determined to restore their reputations, and a jury verdict in their favor could do that. The trustee, under pressure to recoup as much money as possible for the hundreds of victims he represents, and smarting from the angry charges of misconduct hurled at him by Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz, the Mets" owners, seems dug in. Picard has accused Wilpon and Katz of ignoring warnings that Madoff was running a fraud during their many years of investing with him. They have said they were unaware of any "red flags" and have charged that Picard fabricated and distorted evidence against them. But with the jury trial set to start Monday in Manhattan federal court after more than a year of back and forth, it is possible that both sides have suffered enough defeat not to want to risk a big loss at trial. The Mets" owners are already on the hook to pay the trustee up to $83 million. Rolling the dice that they could lose another $303 million at trial might be risky. Moreover, last week's ruling by Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the United States District Court - that the burden of proof was on the Mets" owners at trial to show that they had acted in good faith and had no reason to suspect Madoff was a fraud - might have altered the case. "The burden of proof shifted the pendulum," said Michael Kline, a partner at Fox Rothschild LLP in Princeton, N.J. He added, "It's sort of challenging for the Mets." The jurors must decide the case by a preponderance of proof - that the evidence is at least 51 percent in favor of one side or the other - not by a reasonable doubt, which is a much higher standard. Kline added that Wilpon and Katz face having to testify, being cross-examined and hearing testimony of others called by the trustee, before they put on their case. "The Wilpons are going to have their personal, family and economic lives brought out into the open beyond anything they can think of and any owner has endured," Kline said. If they go through this whole trial, they're certainly going to have a lot of things that people are going to think are unseemly. Wilpon and Katz may also be thinking of the impact the trial could have on the Mets, who have seen attendance slide and fan dissatisfaction grow. "Opening day is April 5, and the Wilpons want to be on the back page talking about the Mets on the field, not in the courtroom," said Anthony Sabino, a trial lawyer who teaches at St. John's. Their greatest achievement won't be in dollars but to close the books on this sad chapter in Mets history. For the trustee, Irving H. Picard, a settlement would limit his ability to get the maximum financial recovery at trial while avoiding further negative rulings by Rakoff, who has not been a fan of Picard's position. Picard originally sought to recover $1 billion in fictitious profits and principal invested by Wilpon, Katz, their relatives and associates at their holding company, over a six-year period. Rakoff slashed the period to two years, reducing the maximum recovery to $386 million. Picard has already said he will appeal the two-year decision, with its possible effects on the billion of dollars in hundreds of other cases. The trustee may also have doubts about how much money Wilpon and Katz have and how quickly they could produce $386 million if they are found guilty. Mark Conrad, who teaches sports law at Fordham University said: "For Picard, there have been some accusations that he's been overreaching. His duty is to get as much money as he can, but there would be an appeal and it would drag on even longer. Mario M. Cuomo, a former New York governor who is the mediator in the case, has attended hearings but there has been no palpable optimism about a deal. Asked Sunday if a settlement could come as early as Monday, he said by telephone, "You'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out." He said that his goal in meeting with the sides had been to reach a settlement which could theoretically come at any point during the trial. Any settlement would logically be between $83 million and $386 million. The Mets might think that they could afford to pay a potential settlement in the neighborhood of $165 million. Still, producing a lot of cash quickly might be difficult. The team is strapped with debt that would make it unlikely that banks would lend the owners even more money. Selling a substantial chunk of their estimated 70 percent stake in the SNY cable network must be approved by their partners. And their ability to quickly sell any of their commercial real estate holdings would appear to be limited by having to unravel some of their many partnerships in the still-uncertain property market. The trial is set to begin with the selection of nine jurors who will be questioned by Rakoff and not the lawyers. If the process goes quickly, opening statements could be delivered and some testimony could be heard by day's end. Rakoff is also scheduled to rule on motions to limit some testimony and disallow certain witnesses, including Sandy Koufax, the Hall of Fame pitcher who is a childhood friend of Wilpon's and who invested with Madoff at Wilpon's suggestion. Peter Lattman contributed reporting.