Civil jury fines rancher in illegal-alien dispute

The Washington Times ^ | 11/25/2006 | Jerry Seper

[peyton randolph]

An Arizona rancher who has waged a five-year campaign to stop a flood of illegal aliens from crossing his property has been ordered by a civil jury to pay nearly $100,000 for a 2004 incident during which he confronted a family hunting on his land. Roger Barnett, 62, who began rounding up illegal aliens after he said they destroyed his property, killed calves and broke into his home, was ordered to pay Ronald Morales, his father, his two young daughters and their friend on claims of negligence, false imprisonment and emotional distress. ...

[peyton randolph]

typo...should have been only one "la."

[Lurker]

Didn't Arizona just ban illegals from receiving punitive damages in lawsuits?

L

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***for a 2004 incident during which he confronted a family hunting on his land.****

His land? According to other reports this was GOVERNMENT LAND that he had merely leased from the government.

[metmom]

A travesty of jusstice.

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

I guess you are trying to say that if you rent anybody should free access to the place you rent!

[ethics]

Where is Senator John McCain and Governor Janet Napolitano?

[sheik yerbouty]

Driving the 'Welcome Wagon"..

[peyton randolph]

Didn't Arizona just ban illegals from receiving punitive damages in lawsuits?

---

Yes. Believe Prop. 102 passed by 74% of the vote. Unclear from the article but suspect the jury award was for compensatory, not punitive, damages.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***I guess you are trying to say that if you rent anybody should free access to the place you rent!***

Not on GOVERNMENT LAND.
Too much public land has been locked up by those who merely rent it for grazing rights.

[Hazcat]

This is disgusting! A US CITIZEN upholds the law and detains ILLEGALS and is then sued and loses in a US court? Talk about a travesty of justice.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***It was still AMERICAN SOIL - being violated by foreign invaders. ***

WRONG! These were AMERICAN BORN Americans OF LATIN extraction who had hunted for years on this GOVERNMENT LAND he was leasing.

They definitly were not illegals.

[Lurker]

Unclear from the article but suspect the jury award was for compensatory, not punitive, damages.

I'd love to hear the argument that being held for the authorities cost the plaintiffs 100 grand.

This one'll be overturned on appeal.

L

[samtheman]

How does it go?

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another...

I'm not sure how we could apply this concept to our special circumstance, of being ruled by a government that is subjecting us to an alien invasion, but the concept is there, ready to be reworked and re-applied once we figure out the correct way to put all the pieces together.

[Hazcat]

If that is true (not illegals) then I stand corrected. It did not point that out in the article. It said his land was used by illegals etc so I assumed (I know, I know) that this family was as well.

[SauronOfMordor]

His land? According to other reports this was GOVERNMENT LAND that he had merely leased from the government.

If you are caught breaking into somebody's rented apartment, is it a lesser offense than breaking into somebody's owned home. How about if it's mortgage? Will you argue that it's really the bank's house?

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

You must enjoy this travesty, are you one of the open border scum who like criminals who overstay their visas or those who just invade our country?

[Hazcat]

Here is the passage that intimates that they family was illegals

The Morales family had sought $210,000 damages in a lawsuit sponsored by two civil rights groups, the Border Action Network and the Southern Poverty Law Center, which accused Mr. Barnett of vigilantism and abusing the illegal aliens he detained. The jury settled on a damage award of $98,000.

[longtermmemmory]

Tort reform would be to keep illegal aliens out of the civil courts.