Jury orders Kid Rock, entourage to pay $40K in damages

Kid Rock, whose real name is Robert Ritchie, was ordered to pay only 15 percent of the total because the jurors didn't think he actually injured Akins.

"We don't think he hit him," said the jury foreman, who would not give his name.

The decision ends a nearly three-year legal odyssey for Ritchie that started before dawn on Oct. 21, 2007, while he and his hungry pals were still celebrating their prior night's performance at The Tabernacle. Ritchie was placed on probation and sentenced to anger management for his role in the fracas, which also involved Ritchie's guitarist and other members of his entourage.

Then, on Tuesday, the civil trial began before DeKalb County State Court Judge Johnny Panos.

Ritchie and his five co-defendants were not in the courtroom Friday. The music star's attorney said Ritchie was sightseeing. Akins slipped out quietly without answering reporters' questions after the verdict was read.

The lawyers for both sides cast the decision as a victory.

"We feel vindicated," Akins' attorney, Eric Hertz, told  the jury. He said the case was about right and wrong and praised them for ruling for Akins.

Then, Kid Rock attorney William Horton thanked the jury for awarding no punitive damages to Akins, thus limiting the financial pain to his clients.

"As far as we are concerned," he said of the suit, "it was just about money."

Later, Horton told reporters that Akins had demanded a $2.9 million settlement.

Hertz denied it, saying he didn't know where Horton had gotten that figure. "We did ask for a settlement, and they wouldn't offer anything," he said.

Horton and co-counsel Steve Estep, who pumped his fist when he heard the verdict, had painted Akins as a gold digger looking to capitalize on the confrontation. They argued that he had exaggerated his injuries from the early-morning fight.

Surveillance videos from the Buford Highway restaurant showed members of Ritchie's entourage manhandling Akins: one pushed him into his seat and another struck him in the face. The group then dragged him out of the restaurant. There was a later confrontation in the parking lot, captured partially by an outside surveillance camera.

Akins wound up on the ground and a witnesses testified that he was beaten while down. But Ritchie and his five co-defendants testified that they were just defending themselves from Akins, who they said was angry at a woman in their party.

Medical experts testified that Akins suffered injury consistent with an assault. He had a swollen face, a bruised eyeball and a scuffed palm, and he complained of aches throughout his body.

Akins left the hospital with a prescription for Motrin.

The jury deliberated for about six hours Friday, asking to review the surveillance camera recordings. They divided up the $40,000 in compensatory payments based upon how much they felt each defendant had manhandled Akins, according to the jury foreman.

Kid Rock guitarist Jason Krause, who testified that he threw the first punch and that he smashed Akins' cell phone, was ordered to pay the most: 70 percent, which comes to $28,000.

Ritchie, who took a swing at Akins but missed, was ordered to pay 15 percent, or $6,000.

Ritchie's personal assistant James Murphy, who shoved Akins into his seat, was ordered to pay 10 percent, or $4,000. Band manager Brian Lang must pay the remaining $2,000.

The jury may have been swayed by video footage from before the fight that showed moments of calm, when Ritchie twice shook hands with Akins.

Akins then appears to have repeated verbal exchanges with a woman in Ritchie's group, Davina Barnes of Sandy Springs. She testified that she had known Akins for years and that they'd had a disagreement in the past that resurfaced when their paths crossed at the restaurant that morning.

They were seated at adjoining tables, and she said he was harassing her and that she told him she did not want to speak with him. She is seen gesturing him away with her hand.

Akins testified that Barnes was sending him insulting text messages and that he was asking her to stop.

Either way, the verbal sparring escalated into a physical confrontation.

Tempers flared so much that, according to Krause, the guitarist, Akins exposed himself at a window after he was tossed outside, and Ritchie tried to reciprocate but couldn't get his pants undone.

After four days of hearing and sifting through the details, the jury decided that there were no angels on either side.

"We saw a lot of provocation from both sides," the jury foreman said. "We couldn't affix 100 percent of the blame on either party."