The jury has awarded plaintiffs $545,000.00 in compensatory damages in the Bill White civil trial. White is the head of a Roanoke-based neo-Nazi group and is currently in prison for making racially motivated threats. No punitive damages were awarded in the civil case.
In the civil case, five African-American tenants from Virginia Beach alleged that Bill White harassed them after they had filed a law suit against their white landlord. Today the civil trial jury held Bill White liable.
The claims made against White were: "violating federal fair housing law," "racially-motivated harassment or intimidation," and "intentional infliction of emotional distress."
In December, 2009, White was found guilty of four criminal charges in U.S. District Court in Roanoke. He was accused at that time of making threats to a newspaper columnist, a mayor and several others over the Internet and by telephone.
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