MIAMI - Tennis players Venus and Serena Williams and their father will not have to pay damages in a US$9 million ($13 million) breach of contract lawsuit filed by promoters of a planned tennis match, a lawyer in the case said on Thursday.
Following a five-week trial, ajury in Palm Beach County found that Richard Williams had breached a contract but did not order him to pay damages. It also cleared the sisters of charges they made negligent misrepresentations, said F Malcolm Cunningham Jr, who represented Venus and Serena.
"We're very, very happy," Cunningham said. "This is a straight-out victory for Venus and Serena Williams."
Promoters Carol Clarke and Keith Rhodes said that they would have made as much as US$9 million from a 2001 exhibition match between the sisters and unnamed retired male tennis stars, and that the match would have earned up to US$45 million.
Clarke and Rhodes accused Richard Williams' company and his daughters of violating a contract. The sisters argued that their father had no authority to make agreements for them.
Cunningham said the jury on Thursday found that Richard Williams' company had breached a contract he signed, and that Williams himself had made fraudulent misrepresentations. But in both cases it said the promoters had suffered no losses as a result.
"These people called themselves promoters but they had never promoted anything before," Cunningham said.
