Post Properties' Ex-Chairman Sues to Save Benefits

ATLANTA-John A. Williams, the 59-year-old chairman emeritus of locally based Post Properties Inc., once one of the nation’s highest-flying REITs, is suing the company and its directors who had planned to vote Saturday to oust him and cut off his $150,000-a-year stipend and medical benefits, sources close to the deal tell GlobeSt.com.

Williams’ lawyers at Atlanta-based McKenna Long & Aldridge won a temporary restraining order from Cobb County Superior Court Judge Kenneth O. Nix to stop the vote for 30 days.

Williams, who founded Post Properties 32 years ago, sued after learning company directors approved a resolution that would limit the 59-year-old apartment developer from obtaining proprietary information from his own firm. The directors had also agreed to dismiss Williams immediately and evict him from his office at Post Riverside on Northside Parkway. Williams’ contract calls for him to hold his office until 2013.