One-Time Collins Entertainment President Awarded $3 Million

NEWS ARTICLE EXCERPT

By: Andy Paras, The Greenville News (SC), August 8, 2003

A former Collins Entertainment president received a $3 million payout Thursday in a dispute against his former friend and boss, Fred Collins, Jr.

A Greenville County jury awarded J. Marshall Armstrong $1.8 million in actual damages and $1.2 million in punitive damages following a four-day trial in the Greenville County Court of Common Pleas.

After more than four hours of deliberation, the jury found that Collins deliberately misled Armstrong into thinking that they would set up a corporation separate from Collins Entertainment Inc. to market and distribute a machine Armstrong said he developed.

Collins was not in the courtroom when the verdict was read. He left the courthouse shortly after the judge read a question from the jury that hinted at damages for the plaintiff.

Armstrong smiled at the verdict.

"This affirms our faith in the people of Greenville County to tell the truth no matter how powerful or influential the defendant," said his attorney Dick Harpootlian.

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