Tag: lawsuit

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Neo-Nazi group admits A12 liability and Kessler drops suit

Jeff Schoep, longtime head of the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement, says he’s still in charge. AP Images for the Southern Poverty Law Center

The National Socialist Movement, a defendant in a post-Unite the Right lawsuit, made a bizarre shift when its former leader signed over the organization to black civil rights activist James Hart Stern, who then filed a motion admitting liability for the neo-Nazi group.

The complaint, Sines v. Kessler, alleges that the 25 white supremacist defendants who showed up in Charlottesville August 12, 2017, conspired to commit violence. California resident Stern filed a motion for summary judgment in federal court February 28 “based on the truth of all statements made in plaintiffs’ complaint against defendant National Socialist Movement being true.”

Stern says he took over the group February 15 and does not hold the values of the neo-Nazi organization. The motion “rights a wrong that is over 25 years coming,” he says in the court filing.

Jeff Schoep, who has run the organization since 1994 and who is named individually as a defendant in the case, told the Washington Post that Stern “deceived” him when he convinced Schoep to sign over the NSM presidency.

According to Stern, Schoep called his neo-Nazi org an “albatross hanging around his neck” and was worried about the cost of the lawsuit.

It’s not the first time Stern has convinced a white supremacist to give him control: Stern was doing time for wire fraud in Mississippi and former KKK grand wizard Edgar Ray Killen, who was convicted of killing three civil rights workers in 1964, was his cellmate, the Post reports. Killen signed over his life story and power of attorney to Stern, who dissolved that Killen’s Klan in 2016.

And in another lawsuit involving some of the same players, attorney Elmer Woodard filed a motion to dismiss a complaint filed by Jason Kessler and the National Socialists and Traditional Workers Party against former police chief Al Thomas and Virginia State Police Lieutenant Becky Cranniss-Curl for not protecting their First and 14th Amendment rights August 12.

 

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False imprisonment: County settles lawsuit against five cops

Benjamin Burruss sits in the same truck he was in in 2013 when Albemarle police held him for two hours until a SWAT team exploded a flash grenade and broke his window. staff photo

Benjamin Burruss sat in his car in the Comfort Inn parking lot surrounded by Albemarle police. His employer had asked police to check on him when he didn’t show up for work. Burruss told the officers he did not intend to harm himself or anyone else, and the 12-gauge shotgun in his backseat was for a hunting trip.

For two hours, police refused to let him leave, then deployed a stinger—a strip that shreds tires—under his rear wheels, threw a flash bomb, smashed his car windows, dragged him out, and took him to the hospital for a 72-hour mental health hold.

Five years after the November 21, 2013, standoff that Burruss, 61, said left him with PTSD, the county and five police officers settled his lawsuit against them for an undisclosed amount.

“Hopefully this case results in the police not using emergency custody orders to detain people who are not mentally ill, have not committed any crime, and just want to be left alone,” says Burruss in a release.

Burruss says he’d missed a few days of work at Northrop Grumman, where he held a security clearance, because he was adjusting to a new medication for depression, and he was staying at the motel on Pantops because of some marital issues.

When surrounded by what he estimated to be a dozen cops, he refused to get out of his car and said he didn’t want to talk to them and wanted to leave. Officer Garnett “Chip” Riley at one point said, “We got nothin’,” and, “I got no reason to hold him,” according to the complaint.

But rather than release him, Officer Jatana Rigsby called Burruss’ wife and asked her to obtain an emergency custody order, alleging he was “acting irrationally,” according to court documents.

County cops Riley, Rigsby, Kanie Richardson, Robert Warfel, and Captain Pete Mainzer were defendants in Burruss’ lawsuit, along with Albemarle County. The suit was filed in federal court for unlawful seizure, false imprisonment, and battery.

In April 2016, Judge Glen Conrad gave the officers and the county qualified immunity for their actions after the emergency custody order was issued, but questioned holding Burruss for over an hour beforehand when they were aware they didn’t have probable cause to prevent him from leaving. The case had been scheduled for a four-day jury trial October 16.

Burruss was represented by the Rutherford Institute and Michael Winget-Hernandez. Rutherford founder John Whitehead describes the settlement as “favorable to us but we can’t give details.”

He blames the incident on police militarization and overuse of SWAT tactics in a situation that could have been handled non-confrontationally. “Obviously the police went too far,” he says. “They smashed his window and put him in a mental health facility.”

Whitehead says he hopes the settlement says to police in future similar situations, “slow down.”

When asked about the settlement and whether it would affect future police actions in similar situations, Albemarle County spokesperson Emily Kilroy says, “The orders that were entered by the court are a dismissal as to the county and as to the individual defendants. There is no further comment.”—

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In brief: Local Park Place, park monikers, parking suit and more

Edgemont Farm is listed for $27 million and is believed to have been designed by Thomas Jefferson. submitted photo

Mansion sweet mansion

Wondering what to do with the extra millions you’ve got lying around the house? Buy a new one!

Edgemont, a Palladian-inspired pad built in 1796 and surrounded by 570 acres of farmland, “is a home whose design is reputed to be the only remaining private residence attributed to Thomas Jefferson,” according to a McLean Faulconer listing on Nest Realty’s website—and it could be yours for the low, low price of $27 million.

The North Garden mansion, which has been on the market for 70 days, also comes with a pool, pool house, guest house and tennis court. In total, it houses eight bedrooms and seven-and-a-half bathrooms.

And while the price tag may be shocking for some, it really isn’t that unusual. The most expensive local sale on record was 1,582-acre historic Castle Hill on Gordonsville Road in Keswick, which sold for $24 million in 2005, according to Bob Headrick, an associate broker with Nest. (While others have been listed for more than $20 million—Patricia Kluge put Albemarle House on the market for $100 million in 2009, which her pal Donald Trump bought for $6.5 million in 2012—none have sold for quite that much moolah, he says.)

Quote of the week

“When you all think about policy changes like this, you need to make sure that in any way you’re not being bamboozled to believe that it’s a change that will be beneficial.”—Mayor Nikuyah Walker at the July 16 City Council meeting about discussions on changing the form of city government to a ward system or a strong mayor

In brief

Renaming the renamed

City Council voted 4-1 at its July 16 meeting to rename two parks for the second time in a year. Emancipation Park—the former Lee Park—will now be known as Market Street Park, and Justice Park—the former Jackson Park—will henceforth be called Court Square Park. Got all that?

Parking wars end

A two-year dispute between Charlottesville Parking Center owner Mark Brown and the city over the Water Street Parking Garage was resolved at the July 16 City Council meeting. The city will buy 73 CPC spaces and lease the center’s remaining 317 spaces, giving the city full control of the garage for 16 years.

Toscano challenger

photo Ellie Williams

Democrats gained 15 seats in the House of Delegates in 2017, narrowing its minority to 49-51, but some of the newly elected Dem delegates want to oust House Democratic Leader David Toscano, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Critics say more seats could have been won with more party support. Fairfax Delegate Jennifer Boysko wants the leadership post, but it’s unclear if she has the votes to call a vote.

One lawsuit moves forward

A federal judge has ruled that a suit filed against about two dozen white supremacist individuals and groups on behalf of the victims of last summer’s Unite the Right rally can move forward.

One lawsuit gets settled

Rally organizer Jason Kessler and anti-racist activist group Redneck Revolt are the last defendants to enter consent decrees in the Georgetown Law Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection suit filed on behalf of the city, downtown businesses and neighborhood associations, to prevent paramilitary groups from organizing in Charlottesville.

Unlock your doors

Well, you probably shouldn’t do that. But, according to government data supplied by online electric supply company Elite Figures, it might be ok if you did. When measuring the number of burglaries per capita in each state, they found that Virginia comes in as the third lowest in the country with 238 burglaries per 100,000 people each year—that’s 47 percent less than the national average.

By the numbers

Booze cruising

Those imbibing while driving through the Old Dominion on the Fourth of July likely didn’t enjoy their ensuing arrest. Virginia State Police say they caught approximately one drunk driver every hour during a 48-hour period on July 3 and 4.

  • 42 DUI arrests
  • 4,911 speeders
  • 1,251 reckless drivers
  • 429 safety belt violations
  • 114 child restraint violations
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Statue hearing: Councilors immunity still being argued

Statue plaintiff Buddy Weber says city councilors have a duty to know what the law is. Staff photo

 

So far, Judge Rick Moore has accumulated six files pertaining to the lawsuit filed a year ago against Charlottesville and its city councilors for voting to remove the statue of General Robert E. Lee—and that doesn’t include the transcripts, he told lawyers in Charlottesville Circuit Court April 11.

At the latest hearing, the city again attempted to get the suit thrown out. Before arguing its plea in bar, which maintains the individual city councilors should not be defendants in the case, Moore reversed himself on an earlier decision and said the plaintiffs could seek attorneys fees.

He previously ruled the plaintiffs could not seek damages because no damages to the statues had occurred—and he said that ruling still stands.

But upon a closer reading of the statute, which says damages may be awarded for the “rebuilding, repairing, preserving and restoring” memorials, he reconsidered. “What was planned by City Council encroached” upon the monuments, he said. “The statute allows [the plaintiffs] to recover the cost of preservation.”

The tarps that covered the Lee and Stonewall Jackson statues, which Moore order removed February 27, were “in fact in my view an encroachment,” he said. “My original ruling on damages was premature.”

Acting City Attorney Lisa Robertson again argued that those on council last year—Wes Bellamy, Bob Fenwick, Kathy Galvin, Mike Signer and Kristin Szakos—were immune from litigation because of sovereign and legislative immunity.

None of the councilors individually can enact legislation, said Robertson. “Not until it’s an aggregation of votes” as a body are resolutions made.

Plaintiffs attorney Braxton Puryear said immunity does not apply in cases of willful misconduct. The councilors had rulings from both Attorney General Mark Herring and then city attorney Craig Brown that the state statute prohibited removal of war memorials, he said. “City Council was intentional and willful in its misconduct.”

Moore pondered the issue of immunity. “The question for me is, does that apply when they’re engaged in unauthorized activity?” he asked. “If they decide to do something unlawful, does it still apply?” He called the issue a “gray area.”

Ralph Main, another plaintiffs attorney, said councilors made an “unauthorized appropriation of funds” when council passed a resolution authorizing up to $1 million to reconfigure the parks, including the removal of the Lee statue.

“The act itself is unlawful,” he said. “They had a duty to follow the law.” Councilors were aware of the criminal penalties in the state’s war memorials statute, he said.

And they were aware they were facing litigation when they voted to remove the Lee statue, asserted Main. Despite Moore issuing a temporary injunction prohibiting the removal of Lee, “they still voted to remove Jackson,” said the attorney.

City Council made that vote after the violent Unite the Right rally protesting the city’s decision to take down Lee.

Individual councilors did not receive any money from their appropriation to reconfigure the park, said Robertson.

And Moore seemed to agree with her that elected officials have immunity so they can make decisions that may be unpopular without fear of getting sued every time they anger a constituent.

The judge said there are a lot of moving parts in the case and that he wanted to read more cases on immunity. He also asked the attorneys to send him a letter outlining the issues they want him to decide in the plea in bar, the body of facts and what court cases he should consider in making his decision.

“This is not an easy case from a legal point of view,” said Moore. “I’ve never dealt with individual liability.”

A further hearing will be scheduled April 16 because the city’s attorney, Richard Milnor, said an order prepared by the plaintiffs attorneys “does not accurately reflect the ruling” on the court’s decision that the shrouds on the statues had to go.

Outside the courthouse, Main had an issue with a story this reporter wrote about the “tarps covering Lee and his Confederate general buddy, Thomas ‘Stonewall’ Jackson.”

“I don’t like it that you referred to Jackson as Lee’s buddy,” said Main. “I think you should retract that.”

The case is scheduled for an October 26 trial.

 

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Mourning period: Judge considers whether Confederate statue tarps are temporary

A judge will decide by February 27 if the tarps that shroud statues of Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson should be removed. Photo by Eze Amos

Over the weekend, unknown persons three times did what plaintiffs in a lawsuit against City Council want done: removed the tarps covering statues of Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson.

Almost exactly a year after City Council voted 3-2 to remove the statues on February 6, 2017, Judge Rick Moore heard a motion from plaintiffs in Charlottesville Circuit Court February 5 asking that the tarps covering the statues be removed immediately, and to fine the city if it doesn’t.

City Council voted to shroud the statues August 21 in mourning for the deaths of Heather Heyer and Virginia State Police Lieutenant Jay Cullen and Trooper-Pilot Berke Bates following the deadly August 12 Unite the Right rally. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit—11 individuals, the Monument Fund and the Sons of Confederate Veterans—contend that the city used mourning as a “pretext” and intends to permanently cover the statues with “trash bags,” according to attorney Braxton Puryear.

He cited a November 6 City Council resolution to create a new master plan for Emancipation and Justice parks that included screening to more elegantly conceal the statues. “There’s no fixed time for removal,” said Puryear. “They’re not temporary but permanent.”

The plaintiffs called a funeral director as an expert witness on mourning periods, despite Deputy City Attorney Lisa Robertson’s objection that he wasn’t an expert for dealing with the aftermath of a traumatic community event.

Hill & Wood’s John Mathis testified about various religious mourning practices, which Moore said were not relevant, as well as public mourning practices for deceased police officers or firefighters: mourning badges, bunting, flags at half mast, wreaths and processions.

Robertson asked about the significance of the first anniversary of a death, and Mathis said it was a milestone “for family, but not for the people who came to the funeral.”

“There’s no mourning period that goes on five months,” said Puryear.

He also argued that the city did not get approval from the Board of Architectural Review to cover the statues with “trash bags.”

Plaintiffs’ attorney Ralph Main called City Manager Maurice Jones as an “adversarial witness.” Jones said the tarps cost $3,000 each and City Council had discussed when the tarps would come off and that August 12, 2018, was a possibility.

The tarps unlawfully interfere with the statues and prevent citizen enjoyment of them, said Main. “We have them to see them,” he said, comparing the draping with going to Paris to the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa, only to find it covered because “someone may not like Leonardo’s views.”

Robertson said it made sense to look at the first anniversary to end the mourning period because the event is now “referred to by the date it happened.”

That’s what gave Moore pause.

He said he needed more time before making a decision. His biggest concern is that since the decision to shroud August 21, “Council has had plenty of time to say how long” the statues should remain covered and then the city comes to court and says it should be one year, he said. “That’s what I’m struggling with.”

Moore says he’ll have a decision on the tarps by February 27 when he hears the city’s demurrer on the lawsuit. He also set a couple of trial dates for the lawsuit against City Council: January 31-February 1, 2019, for a two-day trial, and October 26 if the parties decide they can do it in one day.

After the hearing, statue-supporting attorney Lewis Martin is confronted by a woman who opposes the Confederate monuments. Staff photo
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Statute retroactive? Judge mulls city’s motion to throw out statue lawsuit

The battle over where the statues of generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson will reside continued in court September 1. File photos

The battle over Charlottesville City Council’s vote to remove the statue of General Robert E. Lee continued in a packed courtroom September 1, with the lines pretty clearly drawn between statue supporters and those who want Lee to make a final retreat.

The hearing was to argue the city’s demurrer, which alleges that even if all the facts are correct in the lawsuit filed by the Monument Fund, the Sons of Confederate Veterans and other plaintiffs, the 1997 Virginia law that prohibits municipalities from removing war memorials is not retroactive, and would not apply to the Lee statue that Paul McIntire gave the city in 1924.

Plaintiffs attorney Ralph Main maintained that a common sense reading of the law was in order.

At the end of the hearing that stretched four hours, Judge Rick Moore decided to take a few more weeks before ruling, although he did sustain the city’s right to rename Lee Park to Emancipation Park.

The issue has roiled Charlottesville since Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy called for the statue’s removal in March 2016. City Council voted to remove the statue of Lee in February, while keeping the monument of General Stonewall Jackson. It also renamed the eponymous parks Emancipation and Justice in June.

Since then, Charlottesville has become a magnet for white supremacists, drawing tiki-torch-carrying marchers in May, the KKK in July and the deadly Unite the Right rally August 12. The latter has spurred cities in other states to remove their own Confederate monuments, but such action in Virginia has been stymied by state law.

In Charlottesville Circuit Court, the Lee supporters were older, whiter, more tie- and seersucker-wearing, with more Colonel Sanders’ beards. And at least one of those there, who has been alleged to be a Sons of Confederate Veterans member, was an attendee at the August 12 Unite the Right Rally, where he wore an emblem of the secessionist-favoring hate group League of the South and was photographed with longtime white supremacist David Duke.

Statue opponents were younger, more racially diverse and more likely to be wearing a Black Lives Matter T-shirt. Many of them gathered outside the courthouse with signs before the hearing began, and many of them attended the chaotic August 21 City Council meeting, a fact of which Judge Moore was aware.

“We’re not going to allow that,” he said at the beginning of the hearing. “If you’re not able to control yourself, you should leave.”

Moore also noted that the clerk’s office had been inundated with thousands of calls, letters and emails, “overwhelmingly from out of state,” and he asked the senders to knock it off. “Our courts are not a majoritarian institution,” he said. “Judges do not wait to see what public opinion is. It’s improper for a person to contact a court to influence a case.”

Deputy City Attorney Lisa Robertson hammered at the fact that when the General Assembly passed the monument law in 1997, it also passed a statute that requires specific language stating if a new law applies limits to a city’s previously held authority. “The words the General Assembly had to use for retroaction are not present in this legislation,” she said.

She also questioned the standing of the plaintiffs, maintaining that being a taxpayer is not enough, because it would “give standing to challenge any decision of city government.”

On that issue, in a 2009 case in the same Charlottesville Circuit Court, Judge Jay Swett said a group of citizens trying to block the building of the Meadow Creek Parkway through McIntire Park did have standing, although he ultimately denied their injunction to stop the already underway construction of the road.

Main argued the legislators intended for the monument law to be retroactive, because the statute listed wars going back to before the nation’s founding, and he asked, “How many people are erecting monuments these days for the Algonquin War?”

Judge Moore pointed out the law doesn’t say “has been erected,” and that while he wanted to apply a common sense ruling, “I’ve got to consider what the law says.”

Main also said proof of the General Assembly’s intent was a law it passed last year clarifying the 1997 law, legislation that was not signed by Governor Terry McAuliffe.

“That particular bit of evidence is ambivalent,” said Moore, and could mean the law is not retroactive but “that’s the way we want it now.”

Main argued that anyone with an interest in the matter had standing, and he described the plaintiffs, some of whom had contributed money for the litigation. That was an argument Moore didn’t seem to buy. “The fact someone funds litigation doesn’t create standing,” he said.

Nor did he go for the fact that one of the plaintiffs, Edward Bergen Fry, is the great-nephew of the sculptor Henry Shrady. “That’s a question for me, just because he’s related to the person who created the statue, how does he have something legally at stake?” asked the judge.

After a 30-minute recess, Moore said he needed more time. He also held off okaying the renaming of Jackson Park because the deed made that name a condition.

In addition, he sustained the city’s argument that the plaintiffs could not claim damages, because there were no actual damages.

In May Moore granted a temporary injunction to prohibit the city from removing Lee while the issue was under litigation. With the city likely to vote to remove the statue of Jackson September 5, and with both statues now covered with black tarps, he’ll be hearing motions on those matters September 6.

He also promised those left at the end of the hearing that someone would be disappointed. “I don’t know how I’m going to rule,” he said. “There’s strong merits on both sides.”

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General Lee wins first court skirmish

Sign-carrying protesters against white supremacy chanted outside Charlottesville Circuit Court. Staff photo

At the end of a six-hour hearing May 2, a judge enjoined the City of Charlottesville from removing its statue of General Robert E. Lee for the next six months.

More than 150 years after Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, the battle over Confederate monuments continues. Protesters in favor of ousting the statue chanted outside Charlottesville Circuit Court, and Judge Rick Moore reminded the dozens of attendees that despite “the heated feelings” in the matter that has roiled Charlottesville the past year, “That’s not the way it’s going to be in this courtroom.”

Plaintiffs filed the lawsuit and injunction March 20, following City Council’s 3-2 vote February 6 to remove the statue of Lee. Council voted April 17 to sell the statue.

The courtroom was full of people on both sides of the issue. Seven of the 13 plaintiffs were present, as were the three city councilors—Wes Bellamy, Kristin Szakos and Bob Fenwick—who voted to remove the statue.

The city was represented by City Attorney Craig Brown and Chief Deputy City Attorney Lisa Robertson. Its insurance company, Virginia Municipal League, said it would not be covering this particular litigation because council’s vote to remove Lee was a “willful violation” of state law.

The city argued that Virginia’s monument law enacted in 1997 was not retroactive and would not cover the Lee statue, which was donated by Paul Goodloe McIntire and dedicated in 1924.

When Moore asked if it was the city’s position that every Revolutionary War, Civil War, World War I and II and Korean War memorials were excluded from the statute, Robertson answered, “Yes.”

Plaintiffs’ attorneys called more than a half dozen witnesses to demonstrate “irreparable harm” if the statue were removed, after Moore decided to proceed with the injunction motion and hear at a later date the city’s demurrer, which alleges some of the plaintiffs don’t have standing to sue the city.

Among the witnesses were attorney/plaintiff Fred Payne, who testified as an expert on Civil War uniforms because he “grew up with Confederate insignias since he was 10 years old.” When the city objected, Moore noted, “The standard for experts in Virginia is pretty low.” Payne pulled out a giant Official Military Atlas of the Civil War to show that the stars on Lee’s uniform on the statue were “clearly not” a U.S. colonel’s uniform.

Also called were Margaret O’Bryant, Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society librarian and member of the city’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials and Public Spaces; City Manager Maurice Jones; and Friends of C’ville Monuments and nonprofit Monument Fund founder Jock Yellott, who testified that he was a plaintiff because the city’s “objective is to do some sort of desecration.”

After a 25-minute recess, Moore ruled to enjoin the city from removing the Lee statue for the next six months, but he did not agree to stop the city from renaming Lee and Jackson parks, nor from hiring a consultant to come up with a master plan for the parks.

The major issues for the plaintiffs, said their attorney, Ralph Main, was whether Moore would apply the provisions of state code and say the monument law applies. According to Main, in the judge’s opinion, “It was likely we would prevail on the merits.”

City Attorney Brown declined to comment on the decision. “We’re just going to move on to the next step,” he said.

A date to hear the city’s demurrer will be set June 19.

Civil rights icon Eugene Williams, 89, who sued to the city to allow desegregation, sat through the hearing and said, “I think that court decision is history-making.” He was there, he said, because he wanted to see the city stopped “from trying to destroy history.”

 

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Insurance denied: City footing Lee statue, parking garage legal bills

Water Street Parking Garage

Since 2016, Charlottesville has faced a larger-than-usual number of high-profile lawsuits, and in at least two cases, its insurance carrier won’t be picking up the tab. And while the carrier hasn’t seen the most recent suit, filed by Albemarle County over the Ragged Mountain Natural Area April 20, that litigation could join the Lee statue coverage denial as a “willful violation” of state law.

The city’s insurer, the Virginia Municipal League, covered Joe Draego’s federal lawsuit after he was dragged out of City Council for calling Muslims “monstrous maniacs,” and a judge ruled the city’s public comment policy banning group defamation was unconstitutional.

But VML is not covering the lawsuit filed against the city for its 3-2 vote to remove the statue of General Robert E. Lee, nor is it covering Mark Brown’s Charlottesville Parking Center litigation against the city, which heads to mediation May 31.

In that case, the city is paying Richmond LeClairRyan attorney Tom Wolf $425 an hour. At press time, City Attorney Craig Brown was unable to come up with costs of that suit, but a year ago, as of April 30, 2016, before the city had gone to court on Brown’s emergency receivership petition, it had spent $11,593.

Craig Brown says the suits on the statue, parking garage and the dispute with Albemarle have “all generated a large amount of public interest, whereas someone tripping on a sidewalk doesn’t.”

“It’s unusual to be involved in as much high-profile litigation as it is now,” agrees former mayor and CPC general manager Dave Norris.

“There’s only a certain amount of appetite taxpayers have to paying high-priced lawyers,” he says.

The litigation with Albemarle stems from the city’s December 19 vote to allow biking at Ragged Mountain, which is located in the county, despite county regulations that prohibit biking at the reservoir. Before the vote, Liz Palmer, then chair of the Albemarle Board of Supervisors, sent a December 15 letter to City Council asking it to defer action and citing state code that prohibits a landowner locality from adopting regulations in conflict with the jurisdiction where the property is located.

And while the city held a year’s worth of public meetings about uses at Ragged Mountain, conspicuously absent from that process was the county. “We were not involved in that,” says Board of Supervisors chair Diantha McKeel. “It’s unfortunate it got as far as it did without recognizing that.”

McKeel stresses that the city and county are not at odds on most issues, but says, “Both of our localities have agreed this is a legal question that has to be settled in the courts.”

After the City Council voted April 3 to adopt a new trails plan that would allow biking, the city offered binding arbitration, “precisely because we wanted to resolve the underlying legal issues without having to go to court,” says Mayor Mike Signer.

That was an offer the county declined. “The question goes back to state code,” says McKeel. “We can’t mediate our way out of that.”

Attorney Buddy Weber, a plaintiff in the Lee statue suit, sees a pattern with the city’s decision to proceed at Ragged Mountain over the county’s objections—and state statutes. “What you really have to ask is where they’re getting their legal advice,” he says. “Are they doing this to invite litigation?”

An injunction hearing is scheduled for May 2 to halt the city from moving the statue—or selling it, as council voted to do April 17. “We thought it was reckless for them to do what they did to remove the statue,” says Weber.  “Selling it falls in line with that. That’s why we need an injunction.”

But when Councilor Bob Fenwick changed his vote to remove the statue February 6, he said it was an issue that would have to be decided by the courts.

For activist Walt Heinecke, that fight embodies the city’s values on the Civil War statue, and he also applauds council’s funding of $10,000 to Legal Aid Justice Center to support immigrants. “I do think it’s important,” he says.

Other legal battles, like the city’s defense of its 2011 panhandling ordinance or the Draego lawsuit, “seem like a complete waste of money,” he says. Heinecke hasn’t followed the Ragged Mountain debate, but says, “It certainly seems there would be better ways to work this through rather than bull-dogging it.”

Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy, who had his own day in court recently to fend off a petition to remove him from office, says when he was campaigning, he frequently heard comments that prior councils were “paralyzed” and that citizens wanted City Council to make decisions.

“This council is committed to making a difference and to making bold choices,” he says. “We’re not going to be paralyzed.”

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Update: Culpeper mosque case headed to mediation

Culpeper Supervisor Jack Frazier voted against the pump-and-haul permit for the Islamic Center of Culpeper's mosque. Photo Hawes Spencer

Following a March 22 hearing in U.S. District Court, the County of Culpeper and the U.S. Department of Justice agreed to mediation in the suit the DOJ filed alleging county discrimination against the Islamic Center of Culpeper when it requested a sewage permit for a mosque that was normally granted to churches.

The Islamic Center, which filed its own suit against Culpeper County, will join in the April 6 settlement conference that will be heard by U.S. Magistrate Judge Joel Hoppe in Harrisonburg.

Original story

‘Naked public animus’: Judge Moon questions Culpeper mosque permit denial

U.S. District Court Judge Norman Moon gave hints Wednesday that he may green-light a trial for the U.S. Department of Justice’s discrimination case against Culpeper County– which has been accused of illegally denying a sewage permit for a planned mosque after years of routinely approving permits for churches.

“Things were going along smoothly until somebody raised a question,” said Moon.

However, the Northern Virginia attorney representing Culpeper County at the March 22 motions hearing in Charlottesville fired back at the bench.

“What seems to have triggered this litigation were negative comments out in the community from random citizens,” said Sharon Pandak. “Ears perked up, and everybody said, ‘Oh, it must be discrimination.'”

That’s what Justice attorney Eric Treene will try to prove.

“We had a public meeting where naked public animus was expressed,” said Treene.

Arguing to bring the case to trial, Treene said evidence would show that such animus motivated the Board of Supervisors, which ruled 4-3 last April to deny a so-called pump-and-haul sewage permit for the planned site of the Islamic Center of Culpeper. According to the plaintiff, the county considered 26 applications and never previously denied a pump-and-haul permit for a commercial or religious use—except for the mosque.

“They did not want this particular use in their county,” he said.

“It’s not a land use issue,” countered Pandak. “It has to do with the disposal of human waste.”

The county may find support from the Virginia Department of Health, which discourages pump-and-haul permits as a safety hazard. The Justice Department, however, has already found support from Judge Moon, who seemed less wary of the systems.

“In my area,” said Moon—who lives in Lynchburg—”they’re very common because of the rain.”

Moon went on to express concern about the prospects for the land that the Islamic Center wants to buy.

“How could anyone use it,” he asked, “without a sewage system?”

Pandak replied that recent technology advances mean that land that can’t support a conventional septic system can still be developed by constructing an alternative treatment system that might cost around $25,000. (The average cost for a conventional residential system is $5,000, according to homeadvisor.com)

“This is a self-imposed hardship,” said Pandak.

Pandak also said that zoning on the property allows for the construction of alternative treatment systems and religious buildings– including a mosque.

“They can commence to build now,” said Pandak. “They have options.”

If Pandak was winning the technology argument, there was still the question of disparate treatment for churches and mosques. And when Pandak criticized the Justice Department’s discrimination claim as “speculative,” the judge stopped her.

“I think you’re trying to try the case today,” said Moon. “The court has to look at the pleadings in the light most favorable to the plaintiff.”

On Facebook a few hours after the hearing, longtime legal analyst Lloyd Snook wrote this: “When a government has lost Norman Moon, it has lost.”

Moon gave no timetable for when he will decide whether or not the matter goes to trial.

 

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Widow bilked: Former Farmington president sued for allegedly stealing $7 million

Timberlake Lighting, which is owned by Victor and Ann Dandridge, is named in Lynne Kinder’s $9 million suit against the couple and their business. Staff photo

 

When Lynne Kinder’s 41-year-old husband died of a heart attack while riding his bike on New Year’s Eve in 2005, his childhood friend and groomsman in their wedding said he owed it to Trey Kinder to take care of his widow and two young children. She believed him, until discovering earlier this year that the $6.9 million she’d entrusted to Victor M. Dandridge III had shrunk to $735,000, according to court documents.

Kinder filed suit against Dandridge, a local businessman who was the former president of Farmington Country Club, Farmington Property Owners Association and the Virginia Athletics Foundation, November 17 in Richmond Circuit Court.

The suit ensnares a dozen other defendants, including his wife, Ann Claiborne Dandridge, whom the suit contends has an economics degree from UVA and had to know her husband was diverting Kinder’s funds to “line his own pockets and those of his family” and to prop up Timberlake Lighting and the Huntington Learning Center franchises they owned, the latter of which was losing $300,000 to $400,000 a year, according to the complaint.

It also names Dandridge’s father, Victor M. Dandridge Jr., who was a well-known financial adviser with Wall, Patterson in Atlanta; Richard Lloyd Booth, a “close personal friend” of the Dandridges and a managing director and co-chief investment officer with Dallas-based HBK Capital Management, which manages more than $9.7 billion; and Virginia National Bank.

According to the suit, the FBI began an investigation of Dandridge in October.

Dandridge was a partner at Thompson Davis & Company, a private wealth management firm in Richmond, from 2012 until earlier this year, when he resigned after Kinder started seeking documents from the firm, which is also named in the suit.

He helped establish local venture capital firm Tall Oaks Capital Partners LLC in 2000, according to his Thompson Davis profile.

Dandridge managed his own Runnymede Capital Management, which Kinder alleges was an account to pay his personal debts and expenses, and Wycliffe Capital Management and Selwyn Partners LP, which handled multiple clients’ money without Dandridge being licensed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission or the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, according to the suit.

[Chris Wang with Runnymede Capital Management in New Jersey emails to say his company is in no way connected with this Runnymede.]

Thompson Davis was aware of that lack of registration when it hired him, the suit says, although Dandridge did become licensed when he joined the firm.

Kinder accuses Dandridge of illegally transferring money out of her IRA, which she says “should have raised red flags” with Thompson Davis, but the firm never noticed its employee “was purloining her money,” according to the suit. The early withdrawals caused her to incur tax penalties, she says.

Thompson Davis attorney Bill Bayliss of Williams Mullen did not respond to phone calls from C-VILLE.

Virginia National Bank is named in the suit for providing Dandridge with a $2.7 million line of credit, secured by collateral from his father in early 2014. Kinder claims Dandridge used her money to fraudulently make payments and to clear the line of credit and remove his father’s obligation.

Bank president Glenn Rust did not return phone calls from C-VILLE.

Kinder also alleges Dandridge sold his Farmington house in 2015 and bought a house in Inglecress, which he sold to his friend Booth earlier this year and is now renting it to impede her “ability to unwind the transaction.”

According to Albemarle property records, Dandridge sold the house he bought in 1999 for $812,500 at 2530 Pine Lane for $2,125,000 in 2015. He paid $1.09 million for the house at 1105 Inglecress Drive that same year, and sold it to Booth’s 1105 Inglecress LLC in May for $1.5 million.

Kinder also says Dandridge used her funds to make real estate investments, buying the building at 695 Berkmar Court, the address of Timberlake Lighting and Vitruvian, the LLC that operates the learning centers. She claims he sold the building in 2014 for $1.25 million and didn’t share the proceeds or any rental income with her.

“I don’t have any comment,” says Dandridge when reached by phone.

According to the suit, Trey Kinder became an investment banker in 1997, and at the time of his death was making $2 million a year. He left his wife a $2 million life insurance policy, and $3.3 million in Wachovia stock and stock options.

Within 17 days of his death in January 2006, Dandridge sent Lynne Kinder a letter with an investment portfolio strategy and recommendations, including a “preservation of capital approach” on the $6.5 million portfolio, according to the complaint.

By 2008, she says he was no longer providing statements from the third-party brokerages where he said he’d put her money, and when she asked, Dandridge “continued to assure her that they were doing well,” the suit says.

Kinder made only modest withdrawals from the accounts, but when she did, she had to go through Dandridge, and by 2013, “grew tired of having to make requests to withdraw her own money,” she says in the suit.

With her requests for greater transparency going unanswered, according to her complaint, Kinder drove to Charlottesville on April 7 of this year, and Dandridge presented her with a one-page financial summary that said she had $1,277,536 in liquid assets and $1,407,760 in illiquid investments, a number that included her $1 million house that she’d paid off after her husband died and her $458,000 IRA.

That’s when she sought counsel.

The $6.9 million she’d entrusted to Dandridge had “catastrophically and inexplicably” been depleted to around $1.7 million, the suit alleges, during a time that, she conservatively estimates, based on S&P 500 returns, should have grown to at least $7.3 million. So far, she’s recovered only $735,000.

According to the complaint, “Dandridge admitted that he had both stolen and mismanaged Mrs. Kinder’s assets.”

Among the 13 counts, Kinder is suing for breach of contract and of fiduciary duty, fraud and negligence, and is seeking $9 million in damages.

Her attorney, Mark Krudys, declined to comment beyond the complaint. Dandridge has until January 12 to respond.

KinderComplaintVDandridge

Updated December 19.