OKLAHOMA CITY — The last three known survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre visited the Oklahoma Supreme Court Monday.
Lessie Benningfield Randle, Viola Fletcher, and Huges Van Ellis, Sr. appealed Tulsa County District Judge Caroline Wall's dismissal of their lawsuit against Tulsa.
The survivors claim the dismissal is unlawful.
"The facts of this case fit squarely within the common law property-based limitations that have shaped Oklahoma’s public nuisance statute for more than a century," said Damario Solomon-Simmons, lead attorney for Survivors and founder of Justice for Greenwood. "The District Court unlawfully imposed on Survivors a heightened pleading standard that has never been adopted by a court in Oklahoma. Survivors adequately plead a public nuisance claim pursuant to the definition provided by the Oklahoma Supreme Court in their recent decision in Johnson & Johnson on November 11, 2021."
They first filed the case in 2020 and have been trying to get it to trial ever since. Solomon-Simmons says the massacre caused an ongoing public nuisance that severely impacted the lives of the survivors and the community.
- Previous coverage >>> Race Massacre Survivors back in court
The lawsuit is against the City of Tulsa, the Tulsa Regional Chamber, the Tulsa County Board of County Commissioner, Sheriff Vic Regalado in his official capacity and the Oklahoma Military Department.
The District Court’s ruling requires a party alleging a public nuisance claim to plead the exact abatement remedy that the party thinks could cure the problem -- before discovery, before trial, and before any determination of liability, the Survivors lawyer says.
"It’s an impossible pleading standard and it has no basis in Oklahoma’s notice pleading code or decisional law," said Randall Adams, co-counsel for the Survivors.
To watch the press conference from Monday,click here.
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