Courts

Punching Nazis In The Checkbook: Charlottesville Organizers Slapped With $25 Million In Damages

The 'very fine people' who organized this mob found liable.

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(Photo by Evelyn Hockstein/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)

The jury in the lawsuit against the organizers of the deadly Unite The Right rally didn’t reach a unanimous decision on every claim before it, but it had seen enough to find liability against a number of defendants on some of the specific claims.

Claims one and two — federal claims pertaining to racially motivated violence — couldn’t get the blessing of the whole jury, but the Virginia state claims for conspiracy were a slam dunk for the jurors, who went on to tag the five organizations behind the rally with $1 million in liability each. The individual defendants, including Jason Kessler, Richard Spencer, Christopher Cantwell, and Matthew Heimbach, all earned half a million in liability each. When punitives were added in, the result amounts to more than $25 million.

Integrity First for America issued the following statement after the verdict

This case has sent a clear message: violent hate won’t go unanswered. There will be accountability.

Over the court of this trial, our plaintiffs presented overwhelming evidence that the violence was no accident. We’re heartened that the jury agreed.

These judgments underscore the major financial, legal, and operational consequences for violent hate — even beyond the significant impacts this case has already had.

Roberta Kaplan, who worked on the plaintiffs’ team with Paul Weiss partner Karen Dunn and pro bono teams from both firms, said that they plan to refile the case to get a jury able to reach a consensus on the first two claims, but described the amount awarded off of the claim the jury did agree on as “eye opening.”

UPDATE: Kaplan and Dunn offered the following statement:

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“We are thrilled that the jury has delivered a verdict in favor of our plaintiffs, finally giving them the justice they deserve after the horrific weekend of violence and intimidation in August 2017. The evidence was overwhelming that leaders of the white supremacist movement from all around the country planned for months to bring violence and intimidation to the streets of Charlottesville and that our brave clients, among many others, were injured when they dared to stand up for their values.  Today’s verdict sends a loud and clear message that facts matter, the law matters, and that the laws of this this country will not tolerate the use of violence to deprive racial and religious minorities of the basic right we all share to live as free and equal citizens.”

HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

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