Many hands went up during voir dire when H. Lamar “Mickey” Mixson asked whether potential jurors would be uncomfortable enforcing an oral contract worth millions. That was exactly what he would ask the jury to do in a breach of contract suit against Turner Broadcasting System Inc. (TBS).
Many observers considered the case unwinnable. Still, when Mixson asked potential jurors whether they disagreed with the statement that a person’s word is his bond, none did. And at the conclusion of several weeks of a trial that tested the validity of an oral contract for the purchase of the Atlanta Hawks basketball team and the Atlanta Thrashers hockey team and operating rights in Philips Arena, Mixson reminded the jurors that they had agreed that one’s word is one’s bond. Their plaintiff’s verdict to the tune of $316 million was a sign that they had not forgotten.
