Judge hears motion in Robert E. Lee statue case

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - On Tuesday, April 25, Circuit Court Judge Paul Peatross heard a motion to substitute one of the parties suing the city in the Robert E. Lee statue case.

It’s a complicated legal issue, but boiled down, it’s a paperwork issue about corporate status.

The Ratcliffe Foundation is one of the two groups suing to keep the Lee statue from being destroyed. When they filed their paperwork, they called themselves a corporation. Turns out they were not, because that status has lapsed.

Now, Ratcliffe wants to clarify things. The ones they’re suing wants this motion dismissed and are now asking the judge to kick Ratcliffe off the case because of the mistake.

“If you couldn’t state a claim in the first place, you shouldn’t be able to put in a new entity whether that entity could state a claim or not, is essentially our view,” Jefferson School African American Heritage Center (JSAAHC) lawyer Christopher Tate said.

“I don’t believe that this court case has done anything to derail us from the fact that we are intending on continuing the process,” JSAAHC Executive Director Andrea Douglas said.

That process would be melting the Lee statue and having it reborn as a new piece of public art.

The Ratcliffe people would not comment Tuesday’s hearing.

There has been no word yet on when the judge will make a decision about the court’s standing on the matter.

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