The $2,574,999 Sham Settlements

Also known as North Carolina Division Sons of Confederate Veterans, Inc. v The University of North Carolina and The University of North Carolina Board of Governors, 19 CVS 1579.

On the day before Thanksgiving, 27 November 2019, a lawsuit was filed by the North Carolina Division Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV). It was filed, served, answered, and settled all in the same day – in just 7 minutes.

In an editorial by members of the UNC system Board of Governors written two weeks later, it was disclosed for the first time that the Board also paid the SCV a separate $74,999.00 settlement. This amount – $1 below the threshold where review by the Attorney General's Office would be required – was supposedly in exchange for the SCV agreeing not to exercise its First Amendment rights.

However, new information indicates the $74,999 “settlement” was made so the SCV could actually give the money to the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) to buy the rights to the statue from them, purportedly giving the SCV their ability to sue the University.

There's been some fuss about the initial settlement and the separate payoff.

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