When the leader of the South Carolina Secessionist Party announced in January that the group would be disbanding, he told news outlets that he was doing so because the group had taken a turn he didn’t like. But there was more to the story: The group’s disbanding was part of a settlement with the mother of two young African-American boys who were photographed holding Confederate flags at a rally in Charleston, their attorney reports.
Roy Willey IV of Anastopoulo Law Firm in Charleston reports that Alicia Greene filed the lawsuit last year, claiming defamation and other injuries from the secessionist party’s use of her sons’ images to promote their group without her permission.
She claimed that the photographs deceptively made it appear as though the boys supported the group’s cause, even though they were too young to understand the meaning of the symbols that party members had put into their hand before photographing them. The images were then posted on social media, leading to hundreds of comments expressing concern over how the children’s images were used.
Greene also alleged intentional infliction of emotional distress and wrongful appropriation of personality.
“[Greene’s] main concern was that it was online,” Willey said. “Once it’s online, it’s out there forever, and you don’t know where it’ll appear in the future. She was concerned about how it might impact the children in the future … and we wanted to make sure people knew that they didn’t approve of this and didn’t want it to happen to anybody else.”
The settlement, approved Feb. 28, requires that James Bessenger, the president of the SCSP, disband the organization forever and delete all of the group’s websites and social media pages. If the party were to ever re-active, it would owe Greene and her two sons $1 million each. Bessenger also apologized to the family, acknowledged that the Confederate flag has racist meanings that he did not previously realize and agreed to pay $1,000 in personal funds to the Charleston Branch of the NAACP on the Greenes’ behalf.
Bessenger did not mention the pending settlement in his statements to local media about why the group was disbanding.
“[He] likes to control the narrative, and as an attorney I could not comment on pending settlement negotiations,” Willey said.
Willey said that while the amount of media attention surrounding the case made it more difficult than it might otherwise have been, he was happy that Greene’s objectives were met.
“This demonstrates the impact that trial lawyers can have,” he said. “Often when settlements are reported, it’s about how much an injured person is getting, but this case underscores the social impact that trial lawyers can have.”
Robert Thuss of Thuss Law Office in Columbia represented The South Carolina Secessionist Party and James Bessenger. He could not be reached for comment.
Follow Matt Chaney on Twitter @SCLWChaney
SETTLEMENT REPORT — DEFAMATION
Amount: Dissolution of defendant organization, $1,000 donation to charity
Injuries alleged: Defamation, emotional distress, wrongful appropriation of personality
Case name: Alicia Greene v. The South Carolina Secessionist Party and James Bessenger
Court: Charleston County Circuit Court
Case No.: 2018-CP-10-1865
Judge: Alex Kinlaw Jr.
Date of settlement: Feb. 28, 2019
Attorneys for plaintiff: Roy Willey IV, Benjamin Lee, and Eric Poulin of Anastopoulo Law Firm in Charleston
Attorney for defendant: Robert Thuss of Thuss Law Office in Columbia
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