FIRST OFF . . .

Turner Broadcasting will appeal the $9.75 million awarded to actor Timothy Hutton by a jury that decided MGM deceived him about the cancellation of the 1983 film “Roadshow.” The MGM film library is now owned by Turner Broadcasting and Turner is responsible for certain liabilities associated with past MGM film projects, including Hutton’s, said Turner attorney Anne Grupp. Turner officials “are extremely surprised and disappointed in the verdict,” Steve Korn, vice president and general counsel at Turner Broadcasting in Atlanta said in a prepared statement. “We think it is unjustified and will be overturned in future legal proceedings in the case.” Hutton’s attorney James Tierney said, “They have a legal right to appeal,” but added that he had not received any official notification of an appeal but was confident that the case could withstand a challenge in a higher court. “The jury found, as a fact, that Mr. Hutton was defrauded by MGM and questions of fact are rarely overturned.” Hutton, an Oscar-winning actor for the 1980 film “Ordinary People,” was awarded $2.25 million in compensatory damages and $7.5 million in punitive damages Friday by a Superior Court jury that found MGM committed fraud and breach of contract. Hutton also claimed MGM deprived him of other possible roles by failing to tell him of its decision for several months. The suit charged that studio executives told Hutton the modern-day Western was being terminated because film director, Richard Brooks, had suffered a heart attack. But the actor contended that MGM lost interest in the movie after a change of management.