Pensacola wins Confederate monument lawsuit, statue will stay down
An Escambia County judge has tossed a lawsuit challenging the removal of Pensacola's Confederate monument out of court.
Several groups, including Save Southern Heritage Inc. Florida Chapter and Ladies Memorial Association, sued the city to attempt to block the monument's removal in 2020, an effort that failed, but they continued pressing the lawsuit to try to force the city to restore the monument.
Escambia County Circuit Court Judge Jan Shackleford ruled Friday that the city did not violate any of the groups' rights when it removed the statue and that the groups were not harmed by the removal of the monument.
"Plaintiffs may be unhappy that they can no longer view the memorial, but that does not mean Plaintiffs have been deprived of a right," Shackleford wrote.
Save Southern Heritage Inc. Florida Chapter has been involved in challenging the removal of other Confederate monuments around the state, but all of the cases so far have resulted in rulings similar to the one on Friday.
When the case was filed in 2020, Pensacola had it transferred to federal courts because it dealt with First Amendment issues.
Pensacola initially won the legal clearance from the federal court to remove the monument in October 2020, and the case appeared over. The monument was removed shortly after the ruling.
The lawsuit was resurrected when a federal appeals court ruled the case should've stayed in state courts and sent the case back to Escambia County Circuit Court.
Previously: Pensacola's Confederate monument will stay down - for now
Save Southern Heritage argued last year the city violated the original temporary restraining order barring it from removing the monument, but Shackelford ruled the federal court's original ruling dissolved the restraining order.
Shackleford ruled the groups suing the city failed to demonstrate a legal claim in the monument that the court could rule on; therefore, the court had to dismiss the lawsuit.
Most of the claims of the lawsuit brought by the group challenging the monument's removal were "with prejudice," meaning the claim cannot be filed again in another lawsuit.
The group could try appealing the ruling of the First District Court of Appeal, but for now, the monument will stay down.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola wins Confederate monument lawsuit vs Save Southern Heritage
