Westboro Baptist Lawsuit: Court Awards $10.9 Million To Fallen Marine’s Dad
We told you about thelawsuit against the puke fake Christians, the Westboro Baptists, brought forth by a fallen Marine’s father. We have a decision:
UPDATE: $6 million punitive and $2 million emotional distress, plus the earlier compensatory for $2.9 million, for a total of $10.9 million.
Albert Snyder of York, Pa., the father of a Westminster Marine who was killed in Iraq, today won his case in a Baltimore federal court against members of Topeka, Kan.-based Westboro Baptist Church who protested at his son’s funeral last year.
The jury of five women and four men awarded Snyder $2.9 million in compensatory damages. The amount of punitive damages to be awarded has not yet been decided. The jury deliberated for about two hours yesterday and much of today.
Snyder was the first in the nation to attempt to hold members of Westboro Baptist Church legally liable for their shock protests at military funerals after the church protested the military’s inclusion of gays at the funeral of Lance Cpl. Matthew A. Snyder, a 2003 Westminster High School graduate who died March 3, 2006, in a vehicle accident in Anbar province.
In June 2006, Snyder sued the tight-knit fundamentalist Christian church and three of its members individually. The father argued that Westboro’s demonstrations exacerbated his pain and suffering in March 2006 while he mourned the death of his only son.
Specifically, he charged that they violated his privacy, intentionally inflicted emotional harm and engaged in a conspiracy to carry out their activities. The jury decided in Snyder’s favor on every count.
The church and its members maintained that they did nothing wrong. They based their legal defense on the First Amendment, arguing that their protests were constitutionally protected. Their attorneys told jurors yesterday that Westboro members were expressing closely held religious beliefs about an immoral society, including the military, that has endorsed homosexuality.
Jonathan Katz, the attorney for the church and one of its founders, said that members followed state law during their protest in Westminster because they stood on public property about 1,000 feet from the funeral.
The church’s controversial protests have prompted at least 22 states to enact or propose laws to limit the rights of protesters at funerals. Only months after Matthew Snyder’s death, Maryland passed a law prohibiting people from picketing within 100 feet of a funeral, memorial, burial or procession.
Baltimore Sun article by Matthew Dolan here.
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EXCELLENT!!!
October 31st, 2007 at 1:55 pmWOOOO HOOOO !!!!
Specifically, he charged that they violated his privacy, intentionally inflicted emotional harm and engaged in a conspiracy to carry out their activities. The jury decided in Snyder’s favor on every count.
This man and his family deserve every penny
October 31st, 2007 at 2:00 pmGood Luck & God Bless Em’ !!
A lil justice ,,,bout time
Thank the “REAL” God for this court decision. People of faith or just people of America in general should never tolerate this kind of action. God bless the troops and the members of this cult group will one day get their judgement in Gods court room. I feel sorry for them.
October 31st, 2007 at 2:09 pmI’m surprised that the ACLU isn’t there to support them and their “free speech” rights.
October 31st, 2007 at 2:13 pmThank God! This is proof that good will ultimately succeed.
October 31st, 2007 at 2:17 pmI’ll bet you he gets big punitive damages. This will put them out of business, I hope. Scum. If anyone deserves damages for outrageous behavior, it’s Mr. Snyder.
October 31st, 2007 at 2:55 pmHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
As a Kansan we have to put up with these a-holes a lot, they protest funerals in KS all the time. Good to see they are finally getting what they deserve.
October 31st, 2007 at 3:04 pmYeah! Great News!
Thank you Mr. Snyder for suing these assholes!
“The jury decided in Snyder’s favor on every count.”
Big shout out to the people on the jury that are making the losers pay!
I wish the courts would take it further than that. No organization should be allowed to protest at funerals. Let them blather their nastiness somewhere else alltogether. There are plenty of other forums for them to do so. To me there should be no “respectable distance” allowed for this type of display when laying a loved on to rest. I would like this banned and not just limited. I hope their organization tanks big time. They are self-righteous idiots. God hates their brand of hate.
God Bless You Mr. Snyder! Amen.
October 31st, 2007 at 3:24 pmUpdate: he also got $6 million punitive damages, and $2. million for emotional distress, for a total of $10.9 million. Yipee. Totally justified.
October 31st, 2007 at 3:26 pmWhat a wonderful close to a wonderful day.
October 31st, 2007 at 3:26 pmThey’re gonna be in Norton, KS this Friday to protest the funeral for Army Sgt. Scott Turner.
October 31st, 2007 at 3:26 pmThis makes me so happy
October 31st, 2007 at 4:01 pmKarma’s a bitch!
October 31st, 2007 at 4:02 pmthank god…
October 31st, 2007 at 4:06 pm“If you assholes don’t understand respect, then you will have it forced upon you.”
Respect, yo.
October 31st, 2007 at 4:22 pmLittle do these despicable dregs know that there is a very special place waiting in Hell for them … filled with the jihadi who believed virgins were waiting for them.
Also, the media would have you believe these people are representative of the so-called “Christian Right” in this country … When, in fact, the “church’s” founder is a democrat.
October 31st, 2007 at 4:50 pmWhile I am happy that those bastarts got what they deserved (and they dare call themselves Christans..) I’m a bit worried. If you look at the solution…they were to pass laws that, yet again, limit the rights of most people because of a few..
Cant they think of anything better than to keep limiting the rights of law-abiding people?
October 31st, 2007 at 5:18 pmBy law-abiding people, I dont mean those ‘Christians’..but the rest in general..
October 31st, 2007 at 5:18 pmBest news I’ve heard in a long time.
October 31st, 2007 at 5:47 pmBoy, do I feel better!
I’m happy for the Snyder’s and for other families in the future that may be spared the idiocy of the Westboro Baptists.
October 31st, 2007 at 6:03 pmYAY!!!!!
They got what they deserved. I hope they go out of business-I knew they were not real christians-the christians I knew would never stoop so low. To the jury 
to the father of the Marine-I am so sorry for you. 
October 31st, 2007 at 6:21 pmYesssssssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
October 31st, 2007 at 7:21 pmGlad to see something finally done about these hunks of shit. It’s about time the strong fist of justice has hit hard. Thank the REAL GOD!
October 31st, 2007 at 7:36 pmthe wife of the “pastor” is a lawyer so expect numerous appeals and expect they wont pay no matter what.
October 31st, 2007 at 10:28 pmSupport;
November 1st, 2007 at 12:30 amKarma is right. Didn’t I read somewhere that the church funds itself with lawsuits against anyone who so much as jostles a protestor? What goes around …
Fantastic! This sets a great precidence. May God bless this man, his family, and especially his son.
November 1st, 2007 at 12:45 amEverytime I see people like that I get this rage inside and want to deal out a good ‘ol country ass-whipping, with an axe handle.
November 1st, 2007 at 3:47 amxGhost: There is no reason whatsoever that anyone, anywhere should be allowed to protest within a town of a funeral. I don’t care who it is. There are plenty of other places to protest and as we see, it is taken full advantage of. Hateful rants spewed upon people who are feeling the worst pain life has to offer is not free speech. FUCK THEM!!!!!
November 1st, 2007 at 4:17 amThis kind of lawsuit is what finally broke the Ku Klux Klan. Pun intended.
We do not need to pass other laws to protect the families of the fallen. We can just insist that the families have the right to compensation from those who intentionally inflict distress on them. If we pass other laws, then it becomes a conflict between “the demonstrators” and “the government.” This would inevitably get “the demonstrators” some undeserved sympathy, and would limit the penalties (small fine, misdemeanor criminal conviction) they would have to pay, and cut the families out of any relief.
So, let’s keep the system as it is, and bankrupt those heartless creeps that think they have the right to cross the country and insult a grieving family. Let them work for that family for the rest of their lives.
November 1st, 2007 at 5:45 amThe ACLU isn’t supporting their right to protest because they claim to be Christians. Remember what ACLU stands for: Annhilate Christian Liberty Union. If the protestors had been Muslim, Buddhist, Wiccan, Agnostic, or anything except Christian or Jewish the ACLU couldn’t get there fast enough.
November 1st, 2007 at 6:27 amGood for him. We can all agree on this.
By the way I feel that these “war protesters” are worthless. Spoiled punks. I know I saw them by the dozens in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s at University.
The Boomer’s brat kids with no sense of working for their daily bread.
Hey cheer up just think how easy it will be to make money off these clowns when they are “running things”
November 1st, 2007 at 6:34 amThese folks are not following Christ’s example.
1″Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
November 1st, 2007 at 6:49 am3″Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
Mathhew 7:1-5
The really good news….you cannot file bankrupcy on punitive damages…..
November 1st, 2007 at 8:40 amNickD: why don’t you show up with a bunch of patriotic bikers to get between them and the mourners?
November 1st, 2007 at 11:56 amI dont live in the US currently, But if i were near one of these protests which they list in advance on their website, i would organize a counter protest that shields then from view of mourners and drowns out their rhetoric with songs of hope.
November 1st, 2007 at 5:46 pm[…] of Topeka, Kan.-based Westboro Baptist Church who protested at his son’s funeral last year Pat Dollard | Young Americans | Blog Archive » Westboro Baptist Lawsuit: Court Awards $10.9 Mil…. At least now I never have to hear/see that […]
December 4th, 2007 at 4:06 pm