Turner mulls appeal of $281M jury award

Turner Broadcasting System has not yet decided whether to appeal a jury’s $281 million award to Texas businessman David McDavid, a company spokeswoman said Wednesday.

McDavid accused Turner Broadcasting of cheating him out of the Hawks, Thrashers and Philips Arena operating rights when the company sold the teams to another group of investors — all of whom had ties to company founder Ted Turner — in 2003. A Fulton County Superior Court jury on Tuesday unanimously ruled that the Atlanta-based company disregarded an oral contract and essentially broke a promise to sell the teams to McDavid.

It said Turner Broadcasting should pay $281 million for violating an agreement.

The jury ruled against McDavid on two other counts. It said Turner Broadcasting did not share confidential information and did not commit fraud, a charge that could have led to McDavid collecting punitive damages as well.

Judge Tom Campbell on Tuesday said that Turner Broadcasting does not have to reimburse the fees of McDavid’s attorneys at the Atlanta law firm of Bondurant, Mixson & Elmore. Lamar Mixson said the firm would have asked for hourly attorneys fees, which would have added up to “single-digit millions” of dollars.

Mixson declined to comment on how McDavid would be paying the law firm for its work on the case.