RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC/AP) — Six Monument Avenue property owners who filed a lawsuit seeking to stop the removal of the Robert E. Lee statue, citing concerns that taking it down could end “favorable tax treatment” and reduce property values, voluntarily withdrew their suit Wednesday.
They then immediately replaced it with another on Wednesday seeking to block the removal of the statue.
The six plaintiffs had initially filed a state lawsuit in Richmond Circuit Court on Monday, but Attorney General Mark Herring moved it to federal court. The plaintiffs then dropped the lawsuit altogether on Wednesday and filed a new, similar suit again in the state court, said attorney Patrick McSweeney.
The plaintiffs in the suit, longtime Monument Avenue resident Helen Marie Taylor and five other property owners who wished to remain anonymous, claimed the governor’s order violates the state’s constitution and a legislative resolution adopted by the Virginia General Assembly in 1889.
“Attempts by Defendants to remove the Lee statue would damage, destroy or significantly alter the statue in violation of the terms of the deed conveying the statue, the 1889 legislative provision, and the laws of the Commonwealth,” the lawsuit stated.
READ: Full Notice of Voluntary Dismissal by Monument Avenue residents
It also says removing the statue would strip a stretch of Monument Avenue of its current National Historic Landmark designation, resulting in “the loss of favorable tax treatment” and reduced property values.
Northam announced earlier this month that the statue would be taken down and moved to storage while his administration seeks public input on its future. He cited the pain gripping the country over the killing of George Floyd, a black man in Minneapolis who pleaded for air as a white police officer pressed a knee into his neck.
Floyd’s death has sparked global protests that participants have vowed to turn into a sustained movement focused on addressing racial injustice and police brutality. It has also led to an intense reexamination of statues and monuments of historical figures around the world.
The governor has repeatedly said he’s confident in his authority to remove the statue. Herring, a Democrat like Northam, has pledged to defend Northam’s plans, calling the Lee statue a “divisive relic.”
The statue is one of five memorials to the Confederacy along Monument Avenue, and the only one on state property. The Richmond City Council has expressed unanimous support for removing the rest, which demonstrators have covered with graffiti in recent weeks.
A hearing is scheduled Thursday in Richmond Circuit Court in a separate state lawsuit over the Lee statue removal plans. A judge in that case has issued a temporary injunction preventing its removal.
McSweeney said he filed a motion to consolidate that case and his clients’.
