This appeal is from a jury verdict in favor of a limited partnership and its sole limited partner against the general partner which from 1991 through 1998 operated the partnership’s business investment, the Six Flags Over Georgia theme park. Appellee Six Flags Over Georgia, L.L.C. “Flags” is the limited partnership which owns the park. Appellee Six Flags Fund, Ltd., L.P. “Fund” is the partnership’s sole limited partner and is comprised of individual investors.1 Although appellant Six Flags Over Georgia, Inc. “SFOG” was the named general partner corporate entity responsible for operating the park, appellees alleged that Time Warner Entertainment Company, L.P. “TWE”, acting through and in concert with its subsidiaries SFOG, Six Flags Entertainment Corporation “SFEC”, and Six Flags Theme Parks, Inc. “SFTP”, assumed the role of general partner and directed the activities of the partnership. The complaint2 alleged, in essence, that the general partner damaged the appellees by preferring its own financial interest over that of the partnership and of the limited partner. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the appellees, awarding a total of $197,296,000 in compensatory damages and $257,000,000 in punitive damages.3 Appellants contend they are entitled to a new trial because 1 the trial court should have directed a verdict in favor of certain “non-partner defendants”; 2 the court should have directed a verdict in appellants’ favor on appellees’ “capital improvements” claim; 3 the evidence of breach of fiduciary duty was insufficient to support the jury’s verdict; 4 the court erred in admitting or excluding certain evidence; 5 the court impermissibly impugned defense witnesses in the jury’s presence; 6 the court erred in giving certain jury charges; 7 compensatory damages were either speculative or excessive; and, 8 punitive damages were either unwarranted or excessive. Finding no reversible error, we affirm.
Viewed in the light most favorable to support the jury’s verdict, the record reveals the following relevant facts: Flags, the partnership which owns the Six Flags Over Georgia theme park has existed since 1967. The park, much like its sister park in Texas, was developed as a limited partnership comprised of a limited partner investor and a general partner park operator. The rights and responsibilities of the partners were set out in a written agreement which was amended in 1973. The agreement provided that the general partner had “exclusive control of the management of the business and affairs of the limited partnership” and would receive, among other compensation, 70 of the park’s net cash flow. The partnership agreement also required the general partner to make certain “minimum” capital improvements each year. The 30-year partnership agreement expired on December 31, 1997. When the agreement ended, ownership of the park reverted wholly to the limited partner, Fund, which could then elect to sell the park or to entertain bids from prospective general partners who wished to enter a new partnership agreement. Appellees’ principal witness, Avram Salkin, a Fund investor and signatory on the partnership agreement, has acted as Fund’s representative for the last 30 years.
