Current:Home > MarketsCourt orders white nationalists to pay $2M more for Charlottesville Unite the Right violence -Blueprint Wealth Network
Court orders white nationalists to pay $2M more for Charlottesville Unite the Right violence
View
Date:2025-04-14 05:20:52
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Four years after violence erupted during the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, a jury ordered white nationalist leaders and organizations to pay a total of more than $26 million in damages to people with physical or emotional injuries from the event.
Most of that money — $24 million — was for punitive damages, but a judge later slashed that amount to $350,000 — to be shared by eight plaintiffs. On Monday, a federal appeals court restored more than $2 million in punitive damages, finding that each of the plaintiffs should receive $350,000, instead of the $43,750 each would have received under the lower court’s ruling.
A three-judge panel of the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the jury’s award of $2 million in compensatory damages, but found that a state law that imposes the $350,000 cap on punitive damages should be applied per person instead of for all eight plaintiffs, as a lower court judge ruled.
The ruling stems from a federal lawsuit against two dozen white nationalists and organizations that participated in two days of demonstrations in Charlottesville to protest the city’s plan to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
On the second day, after the “Unite the Right” rally had been declared an unlawful assembly, James Alex Fields Jr., a white supremacist from Maumee, Ohio, intentionally drove his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing one woman and injuring dozens more. Fields, who was one of the defendants in the civil case, is now serving a life sentence for murder and hate crimes.
The 4th Circuit panel rejected a request from the defendants that the court ask the Supreme Court of Virginia to rule on the question of whether each plaintiff can receive $350,000 in punitive damages, saying in its ruling that it found the state law’s language and history “clear enough to predict how Virginia’s high court would rule.”
“Over two years ago, the jury used its $24 million punitive damages award to send an unmistakable message to the defendants and to the public about the outrageous misconduct that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia. While the law compels us to reduce the award, it’s long past time for that message to be delivered,” Chief Judge Albert Diaz wrote in the 3-0 ruling.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs said they were pleased by the court’s ruling.
“Today’s decision restores over $2 million in punitive damages from the jury’s verdict, which sent a clear message against racist and antisemitic hate and violence,” attorneys Roberta Kaplan, David E. Mills and Gabrielle E. Tenzer said in a statement.
Lawyers for the defendants did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.
The verdict from the 2021 trial was a rebuke to the white nationalist movement, particularly for the two dozen individuals and organizations accused in a federal lawsuit of orchestrating violence against African Americans, Jewish people and others in a meticulously planned conspiracy.
veryGood! (96318)
Related
- New Mexico governor seeks funding to recycle fracking water, expand preschool, treat mental health
- Horoscopes Today, July 23, 2024
- 2024 Olympics and Paralympics: Meet Team USA Going for Gold in Paris
- Abortion rights supporters report having enough signatures to qualify for Montana ballot
- Biden administration makes final diplomatic push for stability across a turbulent Mideast
- Officers left post to go look for Trump rally gunman before shooting, state police boss says
- The Daily Money: Kamala Harris and the economy
- New credit-building products are gaming the system in a bad way, experts say
- Meet the volunteers risking their lives to deliver Christmas gifts to children in Haiti
- Team USA Women's Basketball Showcase: Highlights from big US win over Germany
Ranking
- As Trump Enters Office, a Ripe Oil and Gas Target Appears: An Alabama National Forest
- Will Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant play in Olympics amid calf injury?
- Darryl Joel Dorfman: Leading Financial Technology Innovation
- Bachelor Nation's Ashley Iaconetti Gives Birth, Welcomes Baby No. 2 With Jared Haibon
- 'Vanderpump Rules' star DJ James Kennedy arrested on domestic violence charges
- How historic Versailles was turned into equestrian competition venue for Paris Olympics
- New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez set to resign on Aug. 20 after being convicted on federal bribery charges
- Montana Supreme Court allows signatures of inactive voters to count on ballot petitions
Recommendation
Could Bill Belichick, Robert Kraft reunite? Maybe in Pro Football Hall of Fame's 2026 class
Rash of earthquakes blamed on oil production, including a magnitude 4.9 in Texas
Nevada election officials ramp up voter roll maintenance ahead of November election
Kamala Harris uses Beyoncé song as walk-up music at campaign HQ visit
Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Triathlon
New Zealand reports Canada after drone flown over Olympic soccer practice
Maine will decide on public benefit of Juniper Ridge landfill by August
Honolulu prosecutor’s push for a different kind of probation has failed to win over critics — so far