The Estate of Claxton F. Smith Jr.; Patsy Smith; Keith B. Smith; and Pamela Smith were also named as defendants in the suit.
On April 4, 2006, Gary L. Smith entered into a contract known as the Smith Family Agreement with Claxton Smith, Dorothy Smith, Claxton Smith Jr.; Patsy Smith, Keith Smith and Pamela Smith, according to a complaint filed April 19 in Putnam Circuit Court.
Gary Smith claims he agreed to transfer 51 percent of his ownership, stock and/or claim to the company and Claxton Smith Jr.; and 49 percent of his ownership, stock and/or claim to the company to Keith Smith.
In exchange for the transferring all of his ownership, stock and/or claim to the defendants, the defendants were to pay Gary Smith $800 per week for the remainder of his life and, if his wife, Joyce Smith, survives him, for the remainder of her life, not as a salary, but as payment for his interest in the company, according to the suit.
Gary Smith claims the parties also agreed that the defendants were required to pay any premiums on any health insurance plan for him and his wife until their deaths, as well as paying for the premiums on a life insurance policy Gary Smith had.
The defendants have repeatedly breached numerous terms and/or conditions of the contract and, as a result of the breaches, Gary Smith has sustained economic damage and harm in an amount that has not yet been fully recognized, according to the suit.
Gary Smith claims the defendants have been unjustly enriched at his expense.
Gary Smith is seeking compensatory and punitive damages. He is being represented by D. Scott Tyree and Travis W. Hoffman of Tyree, Embree & Associates.
The case is assigned to Circuit Judge Joseph K. Reeder.
Putnam Circuit Court case number: 17-C-72