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Thunder Air must pay $211,000 in fees, etc., from dismissed suit

Staff photo by Olivia Ross / Company President Dane Bradshaw, left, and company owner John “Thunder” Thornton look out onto the view in 2023 from the River Gorge property. A Marion County judge Jan. 24, 2025, ordered Thornton's company, Thunder Air Inc., to pay more than $211,000 in attorney fees, costs and expenses related to a now-dismissed libel suit.
Staff photo by Olivia Ross / Company President Dane Bradshaw, left, and company owner John “Thunder” Thornton look out onto the view in 2023 from the River Gorge property. A Marion County judge Jan. 24, 2025, ordered Thornton's company, Thunder Air Inc., to pay more than $211,000 in attorney fees, costs and expenses related to a now-dismissed libel suit.

By Ben Benton 5 min read

A Marion County judge has ordered Chattanooga developer John “Thunder” Thornton’s company, Thunder Air Inc., to pay more than $211,000 in attorney’s fees, costs and expenses over the company’s retaliatory action to silence public critics of his 7,400-acre River Gorge Ranch development on Aetna Mountain.

The amount of the award was set by Judge Justin C. Angel in a Jan. 24 order.

Angel, who took over Thunder Air’s case after other judges in Marion County recused themselves, is the presiding judge for Bledsoe, Franklin, Grundy, Marion, Sequatchie and Rhea counties. The case is in Marion County Chancery Court.

(READ MORE: Luxury estate lots coming in North Chattanooga as Riverton developers scale back initial plans)

Angel’s order follows his Sept. 26 dismissal of Thunder Air’s defamation suit filed in March 2024 against Whiteside, Tennessee, residents Joe E. “Joey” Blevins Jr. and the late Ronnie Kennedy after the two men countered Thunder Air’s suit. Their claim sought relief through the Tennessee Public Participation Act.