American University student Taylor Dumpson won $725,000 in a lawsuit against the Neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin, the founder of Daily Stormer, on Friday.
Dumpson, the first black female student body president at the university, was inaugurated president on April 30, 2017. The following day, the publisher of Daily Stormer, Andrew Anglin hung nooses on the university’s campus marked with racist notes against black people and specifically targeted Dumpson in those messages. (RELATED: Russian Site Refuses To Host The Daily Stormer On Its Domain)
The U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia found the case to be in Dumpson’s favor, ordering Anglin to pay $101,429.28 in compensatory damages, $500,000 in punitive damages, and $124,022.10 in attorney’s fees, an amount totaling over $725,000. (RELATED: Black Congressmen Call For Investigation Of Nooses At American University)
The law firm taking on the case was a team from Kirkland & Ellis. “This ruling is a precedent-setting moment in the fight against online hate, bigotry, and harassment. It recognizes that online hate and harassment on the basis of gender and race can and did interfere with our client’s rights to the use and enjoyment of a place of public accommodation and that such interference is actionable and has real consequences for those who engage in such crimes and misconduct,” said Emily Hughes, a partner on the team.
There were no signs of the defendants — Anglin and his co-conspirators did not appear in court, according to the New York Times.
In 2016 Anglin led the online harassment of Tanya Gersh, a Jewish real estate agent in Montana, in an anti-Semitic rant. He also failed to show up for that court hearing. The Montana judge ruled in favor of Gersh awarding her $14 million.