The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has ruled the Virginia state law capping a jury’s damages award at $350,000 in claims stemming from the violent Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally that took place in 2017 must apply on a per-plaintiff basis.
“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,” Chief Judge Albert Diaz wrote Monday in the Fourth Circuit’s opinion. “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.”