The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down a lawsuit brought by the last known survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre, a setback in the pursuit of justice for one of the most destructive single acts of mass violence against Black people in modern U.S. history.
In an 8-1 ruling, the state Supreme Court affirmed a lower court decision that the plaintiffs’ public nuisance claim, though legitimate, does not fall under the scope of Oklahoma’s public nuisance statute. The allegations also don’t sufficiently support a claim for unjust enrichment or the unauthorized use of name and likeness, the court ruled.
Hughes Van Ellis, Viola Fletcher and Lessie Benningfield Randle filed a lawsuit in 2020 under the state’s public nuisance law over the destruction of the wealthy Black neighborhood of Greenwood and the killing of approximately 300 people by a white mob in 1921. Ellies, Fletcher, and Randle — who were young children at the time — sought reparations for the victims of the massacre and descendants, including punitive damages, a compensation fund and a scholarship program for descendants of residents living in Greenwood when the violence took place.
Van Ellis died last year at 102. Both Fletcher and Randle are 109.
Their lawsuit named the city of Tulsa, Tulsa’s board of county commissioners and the Oklahoma Military Department among the defendants. An Oklahoma district court judge dismissed the suit last July, siding with the city’s argument that “simply being connected to a historical event does not provide a person with unlimited rights to seek compensation.”
The plaintiffs appealed their case to the Oklahoma Supreme Court in August. Their attorney, Damario Solomon-Simmons, said in an earlier filing that a decision by the state’s highest court would be the final opportunity for survivors to receive justice.
