Lawyers: Deal had been reached

Lawyers for David McDavid on Tuesday pulled out e-mails and re-read court testimony to convince the jury that Turner Broadcasting System cheated the Texas businessman out of buying the Hawks, Thrashers and Philips Arena operating rights.

“‘The deal was done,’” one witness said.

“‘Hang in there, we are sort of gaming this thing,’” read an e-mail from one Turner official to another.

And then there were some handwritten notes from a Turner executive.

“‘Cannot speak to anyone about the McDavid deal —- personal risk. Breaking the law. McD will sue.’”

That was what McDavid did —- sue Turner Broadcasting for $450 million after it sold the teams to an eight-man investor group known as the Atlanta Spirit in September 2003.

The group includes the son and son-in-law of Ted Turner, founder of the Atlanta-based media company.

McDavid signed a letter of intent in April 2003 to buy the professional teams and arena rights from Turner Broadcasting. The letter, granting exclusive negotiations, expired 45 days later, but the parties continued their talks.

He has accused the company of disregarding an oral agreement and then sharing his financial information with the Spirit.

“After the purchase price got down to $96 million, Turner decided it was going to sell the teams —- that it already agreed to sell to McDavid —- to a bunch of insiders,” said Lamar Mixson, one of McDavid’s lawyers. “And they did this in secret, in breach of their agreement with McDavid to keep his deal confidential, and, we submit, they did it fraudulently.”

The trial started in early October. Both sides presented two hours of closing arguments Tuesday. It is unclear how long the jury will take to make a decision.

For the other side, Jim Lamberth, an attorney representing Turner Broadcasting, displayed documents that he said “reflected all of the terms of the oral contract that supposedly was reached” on a July 30, 2003, conference call.

The term sheet included a purchase price, where McDavid would get his money to buy the teams, how funds would be used, how one major tax issue would be handled.

But Lamberth pointed out to the jury those documents didn’t include other things: employee benefits, employee severance information, or a TV rights agreement for the Hawks and Thrashers.

So, he argued, the deal was never complete.

“That simply never happened,” Lamberth said. “The parties negotiated for months but couldn’t agree to all the terms… .There never was a contract to sell them to McDavid.”

“The parties weren’t talking about some simple deal here —- the transaction was worth about $250 million,” he said.

Whatever the jury’s decision, McDavid will still not own the teams.

The current owners, however, have been involved in a complicated, high-profile court battle that involves how much the teams are worth and how much co-owner Steve Belkin would receive for selling his 30 percent stake.

Mixson, McDavid’s attorney, twice took a shot at the ongoing feud among the owners, which is headed for trial in Rockville, Md., in February.

“The one thing we do know is that they have spent the past three years suing each other. You can’t manage a team if you are suing each other,” Mixson said.

Lamberth also talked about the new owners but in reference to how much money they’ve had to pour into the Hawks and Thrashers, which were losing money when Turner Broadcasting owned them and continue to bleed since the Spirit bought them.

“McDavid didn’t lose anything over not buying these assets. He saved himself from misfortune,” Lamberth said.

Internal documents from Turner Broadcasting said the Hawks and Thrashers were projected to lose about $250 million from 2002 through 2005.

The Spirit owners made $60 million in capital contributions from March 2004 through July 2006, according to court documents.