A judge upheld the jury decision to award $281 million in damages to Texas businessman David McDavid over the cancellation of the sale of the Atlanta Hawks, Atlanta Thrashers and lease to Philips Arena by Turner Broadcasting System.
A judge upheld the jury decision to award $281 million in damages to Texas businessman David McDavid over the cancellation of the sale of the Atlanta Hawks, Atlanta Thrashers and lease to Philips Arena by Turner Broadcasting System.
McDavid thought he had a deal to buy the Atlanta sports operations from Turner — and the two sides even issued a press release announcing the deal — before Turner abruptly cancelled the sale and instead sold the team and arena lease to Atlanta Spirit, a group with familial ties to Turner management. McDavid sued, saying he was damaged; a jury agreed.
So did a judge in Fulton County (Ga.) Superior Court, who upheld the jury award.
The amazing thing about this isn’t that Turner botched the sale in 2003 — it’s how spectacularly Turner botched the sale. Indeed, there are no winners here: Turner will basically turn over the profits from the sale to McDavid, who didn’t end up with the properties he wanted. And the four members of the Atlanta Spirit ownership group have been going at it in court for years now.
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