After eight years and three trials, a group of protesters whose eyes were swabbed with pepper spray during a series of anti-logging demonstrations finally won their case Thursday against Humboldt County sheriff’s deputies and Eureka police—but were awarded only $1 each in damages.
The protestors had blocked a public road by locking their arms together inside metal pipes, and argued that the police should have used a grinder to cut through the metal. One press account credulously repeats: “‘It was never about the money,’ [attorney Dennis] Cunningham said. ‘It was always about the principle.'” This contradicts the complaint in the case, which asked for punitive damages, and I wonder if the press will remind Cunningham of his statement when the plaintiffs ask for attorney’s fees—which are now potentially available to the plaintiffs because of the “success” of the $1 verdict in a civil rights case. The plaintiffs’ web page estimates that they will ask for about a million dollars. (Stacy Finz, “Logging protesters win pepper spray case”, SF Chronicle, Apr. 29; Justin M. Norton, AP, Apr. 29; Plaintiffs’ web site).
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