On Thursday, Judge Justin C. Angel ruled that Thunder Air, a development company of John “Thunder” Thornton, violated the free speech of two Marion County citizens by suing them for libel. The ruling was based on the Tennessee Public Participation Act, or TPPA, which was passed to protect citizen participation in “matters of public concern” by stopping wealthy corporations from suing regular folks to shut them up.
In March, Thunder sued Marion County residents Ronnie Kennedy (who passed away before the decision was announced) and Joey Blevins. The two men called attention to extensive coal mines beneath Thunder’s River Gorge Ranch (RGR) development, in Kennedy’s case by comparing it to “Swiss cheese” and in Blevins’ case by responding to RGR Facebook posts with comments like “Gag.” Thunder said nine buyers backed out of expensive lot purchases once news of the mines spread.
An East Tennessee development is moving forward on what locals call a ‘Swiss cheese’ of abandoned coal mines
Nashville attorneys Daniel A. Horwitz and William J. Harbison, both known for success with TPPA cases, represented the two. All Marion County judges recused themselves from the case citing conflicts of interest, so it was moved to Sequatchie County. Under TPPA, all of Blevins’ and Kennedy’s legal fees, along with court fees, will now be paid by Thunder Air.
Likely more expensive will be Thunder’s own lawyers, who doggedly if wrongly pursued the suit as “title libel,” meaning to doubt land ownership. After the case was heard Aug. 26, they tried in vain to amend their cause of action to something else — which could have let them drop the suit and wiggle out from TPPA judgement. The court had none of it, ruling that the defendants’ statements “were not false” and addressed “a matter of public concern.”
“I don't believe for a moment that the goal here was to do anything other than shut up Mr. Blevins and Mr. Kennedy,” Horwitz says. Although Angel declined to issue additional monetary sanctions against Thunder, as TPPA allows, Horwitz adds: “The outrageous abuse of the legal system perpetrated by Mr. Thornton and his misbehaving counsel will be addressed in due course.”
Harbison agrees that their fight with Thunder is not over.
