A former college soccer star, Kiersten Hening, is getting a hefty payday after she sued over being benched for not surrendering to the Black Lives Matter hysteria.
And her lawyer’s response to her former coach’s hissy fit is priceless.
As The Free Press has reported, the lawsuit began in April 2021, when Kiersten Hening, who is white and a former three-year starter on Virginia Tech’s women’s soccer team, sued her former coach, Charles “Chugger” Adair, after he benched her for refusing to kneel for a “unity statement” on social justice.
The Atlantic Coast Conference drafted the statement in the fall of 2020, after the summer of riots by BLM and Antifa over the death of career criminal George Floyd. Floyd died while in police custody in Minneapolis.
Related: Ex-Virginia Tech Soccer Star Sues Over Abuse Suffered For Refusing To Kneel Before BLM
Hening alleged in her lawsuit that none of the players knew what the statement said. But everyone understood what kneeling meant.
As her lawsuit alleged, “Kneeling before a game communicated support for [former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin] Kaepernick’s message [on police brutality] and the organization that had become the face of that message: Black Lives Matter.”
At the time of the ACC’s statement, “Kneeling before a sporting event is loaded with political, social, cultural, and symbolic meaning.”
Hening was one of two players who refused to kneel.
Hening complained privately to teammates, but her resistance became public. Court records say that “because she refused to kneel, he [Adair] benched her, subjected her to repeated verbal abuse, and forced her off the team.” She was also the target of Adair’s “campaign of abuse and retaliation,” and ripped as a racist.
She quit the team two games later.
As the Western Journal reported on Friday, a judge ruled last month that Hening’s lawsuit against Adair could proceed. The trial was to begin later this month.
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Yet before that could happen, Virginia Tech settled. The school agreed to pay her $100,000, according to her lawyer.
Neither side admitted any wrongdoing. But Adair was not happy.
In a statement on Twitter, Adair denied any wrongdoing and continued to say his actions were not political. Rather, he attributed the controversy to “a disappointment and a disagreement about playing time.”
“Today, we have clarity that this case lacked any standing, and without evidence, the truth has prevailed,” Adair added.
Hening’s lawyer, Adam Mortara, suggested that was not the case at all.
Replying to Adair on Twitter, he said, “If by clarity you mean you are paying my client six figures in a settlement, then you’re right that’s pretty clear. Honestly, Coach, read the Court’s opinion. You are paying. Defendants don’t pay in cases that have no standing.”
Mortara added, “Kiersten Hening was benched for her free speech, and you paying a giant settlement proves it. We would like to thank you and your bosses at Tech for paying the equivalent of several years of tuition.”
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