LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY catvincent)

...and have to pay at least $11 million out to the plaintiff.

For. The. Win.

"Baltimore — A federal jury has ruled that a fundamentalist Kansas church was wrong to picket the funeral of a fallen Marine in Maryland.

The jury awarded $2.9 million in compensatory damages and $8 million in punitive damages to the family of Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder, who was killed in Iraq. It found that the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka invaded the family’s privacy and intentionally inflicted emotional distress when it demonstrated at Snyder’s funeral last year. The protesters carried signs with messages like “God hates fags” and “Thank God for dead soldiers.”

The jury will now consider punitive damages. But the judge has already pointed out that the compensatory damage award is far more money than the defendants have."

Considering how many Phelps family are lawyers, this is remarkable - and a good sign.