Virginia

Court Finds Virginia's Punitive Damages Cap Applies Per-Plaintiff in Charlottesville Case

Published

2 years ago

July 3, 2024

Court Finds Virginia's Punitive Damages Cap Applies Per-Plaintiff in Charlottesville Case

A federal appeals court has ruled that Virginia’s $350,000 punitive damages cap applies on a per-plaintiff basis in a case against white supremacists who organized the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville in August 2017.

A Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals panel in a 3-0 vote reversed a federal district court that had limited the punitive damages that the eight plaintiffs would receive to $350,000 aggregate. The appeals court found that in a case where there are multiple plaintiffs, the $350,000 cap applies to each plaintiff, not to the group as a whole.

In the opinion written by Chief Judge Albert Diaz, the appeals court rested its decision largely on the statute’s not mentioning plaintiffs and the fact that the state did not permit multiple plaintiff actions until well after the cap statute was drafted and enacted.

As a civil jury trial in 2022 proved, the protester-defendants — who included white nationalists, white supremacists, and neo-Nazis— conspired to commit racially motivated violence to, in part, “defend Western civilization and white men against perceived enemies—specifically, Jewish persons, Black persons, and their white gentile traitor allies.” The protesters “sought violence, planned for violence, sparked violence, engaged in violence, and afterwards, glorified the violence” committed.

The jury found the defendants guilty of civil conspiracy; racial, religious, or ethnic harassment under Virginia’s hate-crime statute; assault and battery; and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Jury Award

The jury’s damages award against the protester-defendants totaled over $26 million, split among compensatory damages which the district court assigned jointly and severally against the defendants, and a historic $24 million in punitive damages. The district court ultimately slashed the punitive damages to $350,000 by applying Virginia’s punitive damages cap across the eight plaintiffs who sought them.

Defendants Michael Hill, Michael Tubbs, League of the South, and Nathan Damigo challenged the district court’s decision to hold them jointly and severally liable for the $26 million in compensatory damages award, while the plaintiffs challenged the district court’s decision to apply Virginia’s punitive damages cap across all plaintiffs.

Because the jury found that all the defendants engaged in a conspiracy, the district court applied the collective compensatory damages. The Fourth Circuit found no error in this part of the district court’s decision.

The defendants also argued that Virginia’s punitive damages cap should apply to the jury’s punitive damages award, reducing them to $350,000, and that the damages were constitutionally excessive.

The plaintiffs’ argued that the punitive damages cap only applies in “run-of-the-mill” tort and insurance cases and not at all than in the hate-crime context. The plaintiffs’ fallback contention was that the cap applies on a per-plaintiff basis, with each plaintiff receiving $350,000.

The district court rejected the plaintiffs’ arguments that the punitive damages cap should not be applied at all and that the cap applies on a per-plaintiff basis.

The Fourth Circuit also rejected the plaintiffs’ argument that punitive damages statute does not apply to hate crimes. The court cited the plain language of the statute that says it applies to ‘all actions” and not just some actions. The court noted that Virginia passed its hate-crime statute only a year after passing its punitive damages cap. It therefore had an opportunity to exclude hate crimes from the cap’s purview but it didn’t.

However, citing history, statute language and public policy, the Fourth Circuit agreed with the plaintiffs that the cap applies per-plaintiff.

The statute says in part that the “total amount awarded for punitive damages against all defendants found to be liable shall be determined by the trier of fact. In no event shall the total amount awarded for punitive damages exceed $350,000.”

First the appeals court noted that the punitive damages statute doesn’t include similar “all plaintiffs” language as it does “all defendants” and the court believes there are good reasons for that legislative drafting. If lawmakers meant to treat defendants and plaintiffs equally under the statute, even with the “all defendants” qualifier, that would render that term superfluous.

Another reason relates to the state’s historical understanding of joinder. and the fact that when the punitive damages cap was enacted in 1987 the common law largely didn’t permit separate plaintiffs to jointly adjudicate their claims. So an “action” was typically one plaintiff prosecuting one claim. There were no multiple plaintiff actions.

Virginia adhered to this common-law approach until 1995, when the General Assembly permitted a court to join separate actions, or six or more plaintiffs to join in a single action. But these joinder principles were enacted after the punitive damages cap passed in 1987.

“As a matter of text and history then, the General Assembly could not have contemplated including a multi-plaintiff limitation in the punitive damages cap because single-plaintiff actions were the norm,” the appeals court explained.

Furthermore, the court found that a per- plaintiff reading serves public policy interests by incentivizing plaintiffs to join their claims where appropriate. “Were we to hold otherwise, any plaintiffs seeking punitive damages against a defendant (or defendants) for a single occurrence would have 350,000 reasons not to join their claims. And had that been the law here, the district court likely would have faced eight trials in a loop of repeat operative facts and players,” Judge Diaz wrote.

Photo: James Kolenich, left, attorney for Jason Kessler, speaks with the media after a jury gave a partial verdict in Sines v Kessler case Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2021, at the Federal Courthouse in Charlottesville, Va. A jury ordered white nationalist leaders and organizations to pay more than $25 million in damages Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2021, over violence that erupted during the deadly 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. The lawsuit accused some of the country’s most well-known white nationalists of plotting the violence, including Jason Kessler. (Andrew Shurtleff/The Daily Progress via AP)

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Virginia

Sullivan wraps up a career with deep roots in the forest

Published

8 hours ago

April 8, 2026

Press Room

Sullivan wraps up a career with deep roots in the forest

Jay Sullivan came to Virginia Tech as a newly minted Ph.D. He found a university with a strong forestry program, a passionate faculty, and motivated students. The forests and mountains of southwestern Virginia were a great place to make a home and raise a family, so he stayed here and made a career, a career that drew to a close when Sullivan retired in December after 36 years.

Sullivan joined the Department of Forestry before there was a College of Natural Resources and Environment. Through the changes, the expansions, and the promotions to full professor and former department head, Sullivan remained true to the primary mission of teaching and helping students reach their potential.

In 2015, Sullivan was selected as head of the Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation. He served in that role until opting to step back into a full-time faculty position in January 2025.

Sullivan was asked to reflect on his long and distinguished career at Virginia Tech.

When did you come to Virginia Tech?

I arrived in fall 1988, shortly after completing my Ph.D. at the University of California-Berkeley.

What made you choose the field of forestry?

I grew up camping, fishing, and backpacking, and I wanted a career that promoted conservation of the resources I loved. Initially, my interests were forest biology and ecology, but an influential professor and co-student (to whom I’ve now been married for almost 45 years) got me interested in forest economics as a direction that might have the greatest impact on decision-making and policy formulation that would make a difference.

What have been your central areas of research?

As a grad student, I had the opportunity with the U.S. Forest Service to help build an economic impact analysis system known as IMPLAN. My role was to develop analysis procedures, and that experience was formative in my career. Interestingly, IMPLAN is still used today, though long-since privatized. I noticed the current version of that system was even used recently to examine the economic contributions of Virginia Tech in the Commonwealth.

At Virginia Tech my research focus has been on economic incentives for forest conservation and restoration, that is: how do we keep forests as forests? Projects have examined forest landowner challenges in Virginia and beyond, including threats of insects, ice damage, and others: afforestation of frequently flooded lands in the Mississippi River Delta, Appalachian hardwood reforestation of surface-mined lands, and establishment of gum plantations in West Africa. Of course, there have been numerous other studies over the years and all have been challenging, but having the opportunity to work alongside other faculty and students to solve the challenges we faced has been enormously satisfying, even if sometimes stressful in the moment.

How has the field of forestry changed in the years you’ve been a researcher and educator?

Technological advances in data acquisition like GPS, remote sensing, drones, and field equipment get a lot of deserved press, but, for me, in forest economics I am amazed at how the questions we address have evolved over the years.

As a student or new facility member, I never would have dreamed about some of the issues and products that have emerged, such as forest carbon as a valuable commodity, or a millennia-old product like barrel staves would be in such demand, or that we would be talking about aviation fuel as a viable forest product. It would have seemed like science fiction that solar facilities or data centers would become pressing land use concerns. The level of interest in all aspects of forests and forestry for their role in solving global challenges facing society is pretty amazing, too.

What has stayed constant in your time here?

The quality and passion of the students and faculty over the years in pursuing their careers and answering the fundamental issues in forestry.

What were the campus and university like when you arrived Virginia Tech?

You could see mountains from every window on the third floor of Cheatham Hall!

What meaning have you found in your career at Virginia Tech?

The most rewarding aspect has been seeing the success of our students in their careers, with so many in influential positions in industry, agencies, and academia. With many, those successes were expected, but some who you weren’t sure how they would even graduate turned up in amazing places with incredible responsibilities and important roles!

What advice would you offer to younger faculty members who are just entering their careers?

Pour into our students, as I think they always will be the greatest impact that we can have in our short careers.

What’s next for you?

I will be chasing my wife and grandchildren around the mountains of Southwest Virginia and across the globe, continue teaching the Bible to college students at my local church, do a little rock climbing and mountain biking, and promoting forestry education with the Virginia Forestry Education Foundation.

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Virginia

Virginia hires Richmond’s Aaron Roussell after Amaka Agugua-Hamilton’s firing, investigation

Published

20 hours ago

April 7, 2026

Press Room

Virginia hires Richmond’s Aaron Roussell after Amaka Agugua-Hamilton’s firing, investigation

Virginia has its new women’s basketball coach, after a messy ending with its previous one.

The Cavaliers announced Tuesday they had hired Richmond head coach Aaron Roussell to replace the fired Amaka Agugua-Hamilton, who was reportedly the subject of an internal investigation over allegations of staff mistreatment. Roussell will be the seventh head coach in program history.

Roussell had been the Spiders’ head coach for seven years, accruing a 148-72 record and leading them to three straight NCAA tournament appearances since 2024. They notched the first tourney win in their history against Georgia Tech in 2025.

Aaron Roussell has some work to do in Charlottesville.

(IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect / REUTERS)

Roussell will not have to travel far for his new job, but he will enter a program facing surprising levels of instability after a Cinderella run in this year’s March Madness.

After entering their first NCAA tournament in eight years, the Cavaliers reeled off wins over Arizona State in the First Four, No. 7 Georgia and No. 2 Iowa to reach their first Sweet 16 since 2000. Then, days after the season ended, the program announced Agugua-Hamilton’s firing in a cryptic “Virginia Announces Leadership Change for Women’s Basketball” statement.

Per On3’s transfer portal tracker, six Virginia players have entered the portal, including last season’s leading scorer Kymora Johnson.

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Virginia

Former Virginia Gov Glenn Youngkin hints at political future, says he’s ‘chomping at the bit’ after exit

Published

1 day ago

April 7, 2026

Press Room

Former Virginia Gov Glenn Youngkin hints at political future, says he’s ‘chomping at the bit’ after exit

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Former Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin signaled his political career may not be over, telling Sean Hannity he still has “more to give” just under three months after leaving office.

“I have more to give. I just do. The one year of campaigning and the four years of running, so five years, went by in five seconds. It was amazing,” Youngkin said on the “Hang Out with Sean Hannity” podcast.

In the full episode, debuting Tuesday, Youngkin sat down with the Fox News host to discuss his time in office, as well as what things have been like since his term expired in January.

NEW POLL REVEALS SPANBERGER’S POPULARITY IS PLUMMETING AMID BACKLASH OVER GERRYMANDERING

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin addresses the crowd during an early voting rally on Sept. 21, 2023, in Petersburg, Va. (Steve Helber/AP)

“Every morning [when I was governor], I woke up literally bounding out of bed, ready to roll, and that was the most purposeful I’ve ever felt in my whole life.“

Youngkin oversaw a range of conservative measures passed in the state, including a push to ensure age-appropriate curriculum in public schools.

SPANBERGER SIGNALS LEFT BENT AFTER CENTRIST CAMPAIGN; GOP LEADER WARNS OF ‘FAIRFAXING THE REST OF VA’

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger responds to President Donald Trump’s unseen State of the Union address. (Steve Helber/Reuters)

He also pushed for tax cuts, including efforts to reduce the state’s grocery tax, rolled back COVID-19 restrictions early in his tenure and emphasized tougher public safety policies.

His time in office concluded earlier this year, when Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s administration succeeded his.

“I’ve been out of office for six weeks. I took [my wife] Suzanne on vacation, which she so deserved. She’s been amazing. I think she’s of the best first ladies in America,” he said.

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“But six weeks has felt like six years… You’re chomping at the bit.”

While Youngkin stopped short of outlining specific plans for the future, his comments suggest he is keeping the door open to a return to public office.

Fox News Digital’s Charles Creitz contributed to this report.

Taylor Penley is an associate editor with Fox News.

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