Wednesday, January 30, 2013 — Anonymous (not verified}

Marie Szaniszlo
Wednesday, January 30, 2013

A Suffolk Superior Court jury today awarded a former vice president of sales at The Boston
Courant $239,884 over a real estate publication deal gone bad.

The jury ordered Courant Publications Inc. to pay Kevin J. Smith what was left on his threeyear
contract when he was fired in April 2009 after weekly real estate advertising revenue fell
to $12,000 from a high of $22,000.
“I feel pleased,” Smith, 63, of Beverly said tonight of the verdict. “I feel justice has been
done.”
Scott Mcconchie, the attorney for the defendant, could not be reached for comment.
Smith was hired in March 2008 and was responsible for creating the weekly newspaper’s
Real Estate Guide, a glossy insert with open house listings. He signed a three-year contract
under which he was paid $126,000 a year and a 2 percent commission for any new ad sales
in excess of $1 million annually.
After he was fired, he sued for breach of contract, arguing that the publisher failed to launch a
website to satisfy advertisers who were moving away from print, said Smith’s attorney,
Joseph Orlando.