Jury Awards $1.85 Million to Lexington Businessman
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(Washington, D.C.) -- A jury in Fayette Circuit Court returned a $1,854,000 verdict early today in favor of Thomas G. Ward of Lexington. The verdict is among the highest damage awards entered in Fayette County in recent years. Mr. Ward is President of Third Kentucky Cellular, located in Corbin, Kentucky. Mark J. MacDougall and Tracy B. McKibben, attorneys in the Washington office of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, L.L.P., and Kevin Matthews, of Columbus, Ohio’s Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease, represented Mr. Ward.
The suit arose out of a September 1995 contract between Ward and Arthur and A.D. Wright, concerning the purchase of stock in two-long distance and microwave management companies based in Paducah, Kentucky. Four months later, before Ward was able to close on the transaction, the Wrights sold the same stock to Albert Cinelli, a Kansas City telecommunications executive.
The jury held the Wrights liable for breach of contract and related claims and found Cinelli liable for interference with contract and business relations. The jury allocated the $1,854,000 in damages between the Wrights and Cinelli. Thomas (“Tommy”) Ward is a longtime Lexington businessman and real estate developer.
Founded in 1945, Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, L.L.P., a leading international law firm, numbers 675 lawyers with offices in Washington, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Houston, New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Brussels, Moscow and London. The firm has a diversified practice and represents regional, national and international clients in a wide range of areas, including antitrust; banking and financial institutions; bankruptcy, reorganization and creditors’ rights; capital markets; communications; corporate and securities; employee benefits; energy; entertainment; environmental; food and drug; government contracts; health care; insurance; intellectual property; international; labor and employment; litigation; mergers and acquisitions; privatization; project finance; public law and policy; real estate; taxation; and trademark.