The short version: this is good news, at least in theory. The plaintiffs who took the organizers of Unite the Right to court have now been awarded $350k in damages each, rather than the $43,750 a previous ruling had given them.
The Fourth District Court of Appeals in Richmond, VA, has partially reversed a previous reduction of punitive damages awarded in the Sines v. Kessler trail.
That trial, which ended in 2021, awarded the plaintiffs $24 million in damages, but a subsequent ruling noted that Virginia law caps damages at $350k. The way the court read the law, the cap applied to all of the plaintiffs collectively, so they were to divide that $350k between them.
The new 3-0 ruling by the 4th district changes that, so that the cap applies to each plaintiff individually. So they're supposed to get $350k each.
However, I tend to think the likelihood that they'll see much of that money remains low. Some of it will likely come via James Fields, the driver of the car that killed Heather Heyer and injured many others. Fields was represented at trial by a lawyer sent by his auto insurance company, because they're the ones who are mostly on the hook for this. So they'll most likely fork over at some point when it's clear they're just throwing good money after bad.
But most of the other defendants have either declared bankruptcy or made themselves extremely scarce since before the trial even started. Richard Spencer comes from a wealthy family (as though that wasn't obvious), and I wouldn't cry if their money were seized, but he seems to have divested himself fairly well, so we'll see how that plays out. I tend to believe that Matthew Heimbach and Matt Parrott don't actually have much money, because who the hell would hire them? Andrew Anglin has disappeared. Chris "the Crying Nazi" Cantwell is most likely legitimately broke due to his completely defective personality. Azzmador is alleged to have died recently after being AWOL for years. In short: probably not much of the additional $2 million they now collectively owe is likely to reach the plaintiffs.
So make of it what you will. This ruling is nice, but I suspect it's unlikely to materially change much for the plaintiffs or anyone else.
#UTR #UniteTheRight #RichardSpencer #Charlottesville #SinesVKessler #Sines #AndrewAnglin #fcknzs #NeoNazis
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/02/white-supremacists-unite-the-right-rally-lawsuit