| Submit your comments on this article |
| Home Front: Culture Wars |
| Marine's dad ordered to pay Phelps' court fees |
| 2010-03-30 |
| Outrage. BALTIMORE - The father of a Marine killed in Iraq and whose funeral was picketed by anti-gay protesters from Kansas was ordered to pay the protesters' appeal costs, his lawyers said Monday. On Friday, Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ordered Snyder to pay $16,510 to Fred Phelps. Phelps is the leader of Topeka's Westboro Baptist Church, which conducted protests at Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder's funeral in 2006. The two-page decision supplied by attorneys for Albert Snyder of York, Pa., offered no details on how the court came to its decision. Attorneys also said Snyder is struggling to come up with fees associated with filing a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court. The decision adds "insult to injury," said Sean Summers, one of Snyder's lawyers. The high court agreed to consider whether the protesters' message is protected by the First Amendment or limited by the competing privacy and religious rights of the mourners. Update: you can donate to the Synders here for their court costs. |
| Posted by: |
| #16 Tar and feathers are far more gentle than Phelps and his clan deserve. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2010-03-30 21:41 |
| #15 Someday Phelps will pass away. I intend to picket his funeral. |
| Posted by: Tholush the Prolific3678 2010-03-30 21:33 |
| #14 Jimmuah, they'e not in the hate business, they're in the law business. The entire clan lives off court settlements. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2010-03-30 17:38 |
| #13 If I were him, I would let it go to collections first, then pettion the court for relief. ANYTHING to keep the lawyers (Phelps and crowd are also the lawyers) from gettig s dime. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2010-03-30 14:21 |
| #12 Fourth Circuit? I would have expected such an result from the Ninth Circus. |
| Posted by: Flaper Scourge of the Algonquins4926 2010-03-30 13:55 |
| #11 Aren't they the group that was sued out of existence a few years ago, If i recall right the Phelps group lost and was ordered to pay a huge sum, some millions of dollars Knowing full well they didn't have it simply to shut them down. ............................................... Ok after a bit of research this is the same group, they successfully had the jury's verdict reversed and are still In the hate business. Disgusting vile folks. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2010-03-30 13:15 |
| #10 Glenmore - that sounds accurate, nd a quite scan of the case history indicates as much. I wonder, though, if an issue for the Supremes is the award of costs following the successful appeal, rather than overturning the appellate result itself. Though a lawyer, I have zero experience in appellate practice and remedies, but this seems to be an "easy" case to jumble in various issues - 1st amendment rights, speech vs. conduct, statutory vs. discretionary awards/costs, and so forth. I doubt the plaintiffs/appellants will ever pay anything, but their also likely not to recover anything, alas. The first amendment can tolerate mosquitos like Phelps, and it seems Harley escorts are the solution on the ground. The donations should be to the family, not so much to the legal cause, and I hope and expect their counsel have aired that issue thoroughly. |
| Posted by: Halliburton - Mysterious Conspiracy Division 2010-03-30 12:36 |
| #9 tu, With that information, I certainly agree it was not 'frivolous'. I do not believe the Court of Appeals overturned the original award or ordered Snyder to pay costs because it approved of Phelps. Just guessing, but probably overturned the award because it found Phelps' conduct was protected speech, regardless of how vile, and ordered costs because the applicable law required it. If I am correct on those points then I would be surprised if the Supremes did not uphold the 4th Circuit. Moral of the story - if you can't beat Phelps in court, beat him with a baseball bat. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2010-03-30 11:36 |
| #8 History of the case. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2010-03-30 11:36 |
| #7 Snyder originally beat them for over a million. The appeals court threw that out on appeal. I think that's what this is about. Supreme Court's taking it in the fall, so I doubt if it's considered frivolous. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2010-03-30 11:26 |
| #6 If ever there were a man in need of a severe beating, its Fred Phelps and anyone associated with his band of barratry criminals. It is in some ways a shame that this is not the 1880s. Phelps would long ago have been tarred and feathered. |
| Posted by: Beldar Threreling9726 2010-03-30 11:22 |
| #5 I haven't found the details of this case but it might be that the Snyders filed some kind of lawsuit against Phelps over the protest and that lawsuit was dismissed and perhaps defined as 'frivolous', or under some other circumstance that requires 'loser pays' in whatever jurisdiction applied. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2010-03-30 11:15 |
| #4 Let's help him out if we can. |
| Posted by: newc 2010-03-30 10:55 |
| #3 American? Does he count as human? |
| Posted by: Halliburton - Mysterious Conspiracy Division 2010-03-30 10:46 |
| #2 Parliamentary Inquiry: Does Phelps count as an American? |
| Posted by: gorb 2010-03-30 10:10 |
| #1 It'll be a good day in Hell when Phelps shows up there. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2010-03-30 09:28 |