On Friday, Judge Justin C. Angel ruled that Thunder Air, a development company of John “Thunder” Thornton, must pay the attorneys of Joey Blevins and the late Ronnie Kennedy $211,345.40 in legal fees. In September, the same judge ruled that Thunder had violated the free speech of both men under the Tennessee Public Participation Act, or TPPA.
The latest in the ongoing skirmish over East Tennessee's River Gorge Ranch development
Thornton sued the two for libel after Kennedy said River Gorge Ranch (RGR), Thunder’s mountaintop development, sits above abandoned coal mines. Among other slights, the lawsuit quoted Kennedy as saying Aetna Mountain was like “Swiss cheese,” while Blevins responded to a Thornton Facebook post claiming that there were no mines with the single word: “gag.”
The TPPA, passed in 2019, was designed to keep wealthy companies and individuals from stifling free speech through libel suits.
“The court's order serves as complete vindication for Mr. Blevins, who performed a public service,” says Daniel A. Horwitz, Blevins' Nashville-based lead counsel. “Hopefully, this humiliating defeat will teach Mr. Thornton and all other developers who dare to abuse Tennessee's court system an important lesson: Litigation is not a substitute for addressing valid criticism.”
Kennedy died in August, mid-lawsuit, but his attorney William J. Harbison continues to represent his family. “We are thankful the court saw this case for exactly what it was — a meritless lawsuit that sought to bully and intimidate two gentlemen who did nothing but speak truth to power,” Harbison says.
Blevins says that if Thornton had only been transparent with his out-of-state buyers about the nearly 200-year history of mining beneath RGR, “none of this would have had to happen.” He adds that the TPPA was put in place specifically to “protect people looking out for their neighbors.”
The award comes as controversy continues to swirl around RGR.
Monday night, county commissioners debated proposed road variances for the development. The county road commissioner, Cory Pickett, described Thornton engineering reports not shared with the commission.
Tennessee code 54-9-123 requires “county road commissioners not to be members of a county legislative body,” but Pickett serves on the planning commission that approves all roads and plats for RGR. However, Charlie Curtiss, the director of the Tennessee County Commissioners Association, explained Tuesday that this was a case of bad job title rather than criminal behavior.
An East Tennessee development is moving forward on what locals call a ‘Swiss cheese’ of abandoned coal mines
“He’s not a road commissioner,” Curtiss says. “He’s a highway superintendent.” The county website lists Pickett as “Road Commissioner,” which was how he was introduced at the Monday meeting. But Curtiss says that title only legally applies in counties with a separate legislative body called a “road commission.” Marion County does not have a road commission, so one thread in a conflicted web of county connections to Thornton was straightened out.
Others remain: The development still has no public water. Some home construction permits may be invalid without installed water lines. Restaurants and vacation cabin sites never considered by the planning commission lack plats allowing their construction.
No one yet occupies any of the 2,500 projected homesites.
