How do you sue the Proud Boys?

Back during the 2020 election and the “Summer of Love” BLM riots, a group of Proud Boys was seen tearing down a Black Lives Matter sign outside of a predominantly Black church in Washington. Arrests were made, though not of the rioters, of course. And a lawsuit was brought against the group. Now a Superior Court judge in Washington has ordered the group to pay more than a million dollars in reparations. Since the entire thing was caught on video, there is little doubt as to who was responsible, but this case raises a couple of immediate and obvious questions. First, how much actual damage was incurred? And perhaps even more to the point, who gets stuck with the bill? (NY Post)

Members of the Proud Boys were ordered Saturday to pay over $1 million for violently tearing down and burning a “Black Lives Matter” sign posted outside a predominantly black church in Washington, DC, in 2020.

The extremist group and its leaders were also barred from coming near the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church or making threats or defamatory remarks against it or its pastor for five years, Superior Court Associated Judge Neal A. Kravitz ruled.

Kravitz called the hate-fueled demonstration an “attack” on the Metropolitan AME that “resulted from a highly orchestrated set of events focused on the Proud Boys’ guiding principles: white supremacy and violence.”

In terms of the damage, we should be clear that the item in question wasn’t actually a “sign,” which might imply an installed structure. It was a poster, though a sizable and sturdy one. Why anyone would invest the effort to “punch and stomp on” a piece of cardboard is left to the imagination of the viewer. I’m sure they felt it was symbolic of something.

Also, you can hear the group chanting in the video. I had assumed there was something provocative involved such as the use of the n-word or similar offensive speech. But what they were actually chanting was “our streets.” Property damage is never acceptable when protesting, no matter the dollar value involved. That’s one of the things that turns a protest into a riot and the participants should be held accountable. But is the damage from tearing down a poster really worth a million dollars?

That brings us to the question of who will pay all of this money. Judge Neal Kravitz, a Clinton appointee, ordered “The Proud Boys” to pay for the damage. But what does that really mean? Sure, you can sue Enrique Tarrio and even put him in jail for events where he wasn’t even present. (That already happened.) You might even be able to try to sue Gavin McInnes, the group’s original founder, though he disassociated himself from the group (mostly) in 2018 on the advice of his attorneys.

As you can see in the linked video from 2020, there were at most six or seven of the Proud Boys at the church that evening. It sounds as if the police were eventually able to identify them all, though they are not named in the lawsuit specifically. Those are the people who should be accountable for the damage that was caused. “The Proud Boys” is not a formal organization with any sort of pursuable assets as far as I can tell. They’re really more of an idea than a corporation or official organization. I don’t even know where they get the gear that they wear. You can find a couple of hats and other items on Redbubble, but they don’t appear to be associated with the activist group directly.

And who qualifies as a “member” of The Proud Boys? If you ever joined them in a march and chanted some slogans but never caused any injuries or property damage, are you equally as liable? How about if you ever “liked” one of the posts of one of the group’s active participants on social media? Should you foot part of this one million-dollar tab?

If this judgment is allowed to stand as issued, it could have broader unintended consequences. Assuming the Justice Department ever develops an interest in prosecuting any of the domestic terrorists of Antifa (as unlikely as that seems), will that “group” be sued over the literal tens of millions of dollars in damages they have caused? Will the FBI track them down using facial recognition and have a judge seize all of their bank accounts?

Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it.