Victoria and Jason Keenan v. Richard Butler and Saphire, Inc. d/b/a Aryan Nation

Negligent hiring, training and supervison of security guards who attacked plaintiffs outside the Aryan Nation's northern Idaho headquarters in 1998. Plaintiffs were chased, shot at and assaulted after they stopped to search for a dropped wallet near the entrance to the Aryan Nations' compound. The security gaurds, who represented themselves, claimed that they thought that they mistook a car backfiring to be a shot and a threat.

Butler presides over the Church of Jesus Christ-Christian, which holds that whites are the true children of God, that Jews are the offspring of Satan and that blacks and other minorities are inferior.

Jury verdict for plaintiff awarding $330,000 in compensatory damages and $6 million in punitive damages. The jury found Butler, the Aryan Nations and Saphire Inc. 90 percent negligent and liable for $4.8 million of the award. Butler's chief of staff, Michael Teague, was found 10 percent negligent and liable for $600,000. The former guards Jesse Warfield and John Yeager - who are serving prison terms for the assaults on the Keenans - were also found liable for punitive damages. Yeager was assessed $100,000 in punitive damages and Warfield $500,000 in punitive damages. The jury also awarded Victoria Keenan $250,000 and Jason Keenan $80,000 in compensatory damages.

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Morris Dees uses civil litigation to destroy hate groups. He has won six such lawsuits in the past.