| Business Contract
Dispute: South Carolina awards $48 Million to Ken Suggs' client,
Heritage Propane
On October 21, 2004, following 14 days of
trial, a jury in Columbia, South Carolina awarded $48,000,000.00 to
Ken
Suggs' client, Heritage Propane, in a dispute over a stolen contract.
In 1999, Heritage Propane successfully outbid several of their
competitors to purchase SCANA Corporation’s propane assets for
$73,500,000.00. Heritage Propane was an up and coming national propane
distributor concentrating on both retail and wholesale propane. SCANA
Corporation, based in Georgia, is South Carolina’s largest utility
company. After passing several drafts of the purchase and sale contract
back and forth, Heritage and SCANA finally reached a "meeting of the
minds" on all of the material terms of the contract. After shaking hands
on the deal, the parties agreed to reconvene for the official signing on
September 27, 1999. Unbeknownst to Heritage, Suburban Propane had
entered the equation at the last minute and offered 94 million dollars
to "oust" Heritage.
SCANA claimed that they had no choice but to break their deal with
Heritage, but a jury agreed with Heritage that a man's word should count
for something and awarded $48,000,000.00 ($36,000,000.00 in actual
damages and $12,000,000.00 punitive damages) on four separate legal
grounds following two days of jury deliberations . Ken Suggs said he was
"very pleased with the jury system and the way it handled this case."
"We fought for five years to get justice for our client," said Mr.
Suggs. "We had faith that people in Columbia would not tolerate the
cut-throat business practices that have become all too common in
America. This was a complicated case with complicated issues of business
ethics and personal morality, and the jury was attentive throughout the
trial. Hopefully, their message will be heeded by businesses in South
Carolina and elsewhere."
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