Huge award against Topeka church in funeral lawsuit

[Flybrick]

My understanding is that they lost on invasion of privacy not 1st Amendment grounds.


Either way, works for me!


As a corollary to Jehovah's words above, I wonder if these people, and I'm being generous, have figured it out that if God were on their side, they wouldn't have lost the case.

[Bob78164]

$10.9 million damages for kin of Marine killed in Iraq

A federal jury in Baltimore awarded nearly $11 million yesterday to the father of a Marine killed in Iraq, deciding that the family's privacy had been invaded by a Kansas church whose members waved anti-gay signs at the funeral.

It was the first-ever verdict against Westboro Baptist Church, a fundamentalist Christian group based in Topeka that has protested military funerals across the country with placards bearing shock-value messages such as "Thank God for dead soldiers."

They contend that the deaths are punishment for America's tolerance of homosexuality and of gays in the military.

Full story

This award is going to be substantially reduced, probably by the trial judge, and otherwise on appeal. Most of it is punitive damages, and the evidence apparently established that the defendants had very little net worth. Under recent Supreme Court case law, that makes it next to impossible to sustain any kind of a significant punitive damages award.

My real concern is that the trial judge may conclude that the large punitive damage award showed that the jury was deciding based on passion and prejudice, rather than the facts, and on that basis vacate the compensatory damage award as well. I doubt that any court will disturb liability, though. --Bob

[peacock2121]

That Medamned Phelps really pisses Me off: he can't get it through his thick skull that I don't hate anyone, not even him. He really does try My patience, and if were the sort to be tempted by anything-- which, of cxourse, I am not-- I would be tempted to do a little smiting in his direction. Just so's you all will know, I let crap like that go on mostly to give the rest of you a chance to show that you're better than that.

And he has the nerve to call his collection of whack jobs a 'church'-- if I didn't know better, that would be enough to turn Me into an atheist.

And I sure as heck don't go around killing US troops or anyone else just because someone else might be doing stuff that-- maybe-- I don't entirely approve of: if I want someone dead, he's dead, believe me; I don't go for collateral damage, and anyone who says I do is just blowing smoke (and he will be blowing a LOT of smoke when the time comes, if you get my drift).

My pal Lucifer has a special place set aside for Phelps and his crowd. I can hardly wait to send him off...

I want to go to your church.