Jury awards $15M in damages in death of UVA lacrosse player Yeardley Love

 

RICHMOND, Va. — A former University of Virginia lacrosse player is liable for fatally beating his girlfriend in 2010 and must pay $15 million in damages in a wrongful death lawsuit, a jury found Monday.

George Huguely V is currently serving a 23-year prison sentence in the killing of Yeardley Love after being convicted of second-degree murder during a 2012 criminal trial. Huguely and Love both played lacrosse at UVA and had a two-year, on-again, off-again relationship before Yeardley was found beaten to death in her off-campus apartment on May 3, 2010.

The lawsuit sought to hold Huguely civilly liable in Love’s death and asked the jury to award $29.5 million in compensatory damages, plus $1 million in punitive damages.

On Monday, the jury awarded $7.5 million in compensatory damages to both Love’s mother, Sharon Love, and her sister, Lexi Love Hodges. Punitive damages were not awarded.

Both women broke down in tears when the jury’s verdict was read in Charlottesville Circuit Court Monday night after about two hours of deliberations. The verdict came almost 12 years to the day Yeardley Love was found dead in her off-campus apartment.

“This had been a tremendous ordeal,” said Paul Bekman, an attorney for the family.

“They’ve lived through this, they lived through the criminal trial, and now they had to go through this civil trial,” he said. “It is a partial closure that means a lot to them.”

Bekman said the jury was asked to answer the question of whether Huguely acted with “willful and wanton” misconduct and whether his actions were in “conscious disregard” of Love’s rights. The jury answered “yes,” a finding that meant they could award punitive damages, but they did not.

But Bekman said the finding of willful and wanton misconduct means that Huguely will not be able to have the $15 million in compensatory damages dismissed by a bankruptcy court if he argues that he does not have the assets to pay the judgment.

During the trial, Huguely’s lawyer, Matthew Green, acknowledged that Huguely’s actions caused Yeardley’s death and said her family was entitled to compensatory damages.

But Green said Huguely had been drinking heavily for more than 24 hours before he confronted Love in her apartment, did not intend to kill her and was unaware that she was dead until police told him while questioning him the next morning. Green argued that Huguely’s actions did not rise to the level of “willful and wanton” conduct needed for a jury to award punitive damages under Virginia law.

“We think the result of the jury in granting the defense request not to award punitive damages shows that George got a fair trial ten years ago and justice was done at that time and no additional punishment was warranted,” Green said after the verdict.