Attorney Renews Lawsuit Over Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee Statue Removal Plan
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Another lawsuit has been filed by a group of Richmond residents over Gov. Ralph Northam's plan to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
Attorney Patrick McSweeney filed the complaint Tuesday on behalf of five plaintiffs, four of whom are property owners in the vicinity of the statue. One is identified as the trustee of a property owner.
The lawsuit is similar to previous ones McSweeney has filed and then dropped. It has at least one of the same plaintiffs, Monument Avenue resident Helen Marie Taylor, who had previously been joined by other anonymous plaintiffs.
Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring's chief of staff, Michael Kelly, summed up the legal maneuvering in an email, writing: "That means they have filed a lawsuit, dropped it, refiled their lawsuit, sought to consolidate it, decided not to consolidate it, opposed consolidation, dropped the suit, and now have refiled their suit again and apparently want to consolidate again."
McSweeney, a former chair of the Republican Party of Virginia, declined comment.
The plaintiffs are seeking an injunction preventing the removal of the statue, according to court documents.
They also appear to want to participate in a Thursday afternoon hearing in a separate lawsuit over the statue, according to Kelly, who wrote that Herring is "committed to ensuring the removal of this divisive and antiquated relic as soon as possible."
Thursday's court hearing is set in a case filed by William C. Gregory, a man who identifies himself as the great-grandson of two signatories to a deed that transferred the statue, pedestal and ground they sit on to the state.
An injunction preventing the state's removal has already been issued in that case. Herring is seeking to have it dissolved.
Northam announced plans to remove the bronze equestrian statue in early June, citing the pain felt across the country of the death of George Floyd at the hands of police.
It sits on state property atop a giant pedestal in the middle of a grassy traffic circle.
In addition to Taylor, named as plaintiffs in Tuesday's complaint are: Evan Morgan Massey, Janet Heltzel, George D. Hostetler and John-Lawrence Smith.
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