Judge halves amount of damages Westboro church must pay

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Baltimore Sun

Anti-gay group will pay $5 million for protest at Marine's Westminster funeral

By Matthew Dolan | Sun reporter
1:05 PM EST, February 4, 2008

A federal judge in Baltimore today substantially reduced the amount of damages Westboro Baptist Church, the Kansas-based anti-gay group, and three of its members will have to pay for their protest at a Marine's funeral in Westminster.

In a 52-page decision, U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett upheld a jury's verdict awarding the father of Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder multimillion-dollar damages for enduring emotional distress and having his privacy invaded by Westboro members waving anti-gay signs at the Marine's funeral in March 2006.

"There was also more than sufficient evidence to support the jury's verdict on defendants' liability," Bennett wrote. "There was more than sufficient evidence to support the jury's verdict that defendants' conduct before, during and after the funeral of Matthew Snyder was outrageous, designed to inflict emotional distress upon plaintiff and that the intrusion upon the seclusion of plaintiff and his family was highly offensive to a reasonable person."

But the judge more than halved the total $10.9 million award to $5 million. He upheld the jury's compensatory damage award of $2.9 million but reduced the total punitive damages from $8 million to $2.1 million.

Read more: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-westboro0204,0,7126171.story

[ronnykmarshall]

1. At least the fuckers still have to pay.

[Puckster]

2. Yup.

Like the KKK, the only way to defeat them is to de-fund them.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[DavidMS]

4. Somthing is better than nothing...

It also establishes president and will help with future cases. It still will hurt them, just not as much.

[LeftyMom]

5. Precedent.

It establishes the precedent.

[DeSwiss]

6. Couldn't have happened to a more deserving group....

...Of course they believe that they'll win a reversal on appeal.

But I'm sure they'll have no problem raising the cash from their legends of supporters. :sarcasm:



K&R!!!

[Dawggie]

7. I'm hoping this is enough to bankrupt the bastards.

[damntexdem]

8. Should have doubled the damages Phred has to pay.