Actually the fine is $500 at most. This is a guaranteed civil court payout, on top of any “damages” someone may receive. And since this is civil court, you operate on preponderance of evidence instead of beyond a reasonable doubt.
This sort of legislated punitive damages is what should be happening for instances of wage theft, but instead we’re using it for harassing trans people while wage theft tends to have few if any punitive damages and mostly amounts to “ok, now give them their paycheck.”
The bounty itself reads that any person besides local and state government officials may sue a trans person using the restroom that aligns with their gender, with payments including “injunctive relief sufficient to prevent the defendant from violating the provisions of this ordinance; nominal and compensatory damages if the plaintiff has suffered injury or harm from the defendant’s conduct; statutory damages in an amount of not less than $10,000 for each violation of this ordinance; and court costs and reasonable attorney’s fees.”
As with the abortion bans, the “”“criminal”“” themselves has to pay.
So it’s the person you’re suing. Essentially, it’s a civil case like a car accident, but you’re suing someone for going into the wrong bathroom. You’re guaranteed a $10k judgement but can get more for “emotional damages” if the judge is a particular bigot.
Edit: it also means you can blackmail a trans person for a settlement and that’s legal too, since the threat isn’t so much the criminal fine but the civil one
Actually the fine is $500 at most. This is a guaranteed civil court payout, on top of any “damages” someone may receive. And since this is civil court, you operate on preponderance of evidence instead of beyond a reasonable doubt.
This sort of legislated punitive damages is what should be happening for instances of wage theft, but instead we’re using it for harassing trans people while wage theft tends to have few if any punitive damages and mostly amounts to “ok, now give them their paycheck.”
Thats the bounty pay out, not the fine collected. Right?
The fine is a criminal statute of $500. The bounty is a civil statute of $10,000.
For a non US person, who’s paying the ten grands?
As with the abortion bans, the “”“criminal”“” themselves has to pay.
So it’s the person you’re suing. Essentially, it’s a civil case like a car accident, but you’re suing someone for going into the wrong bathroom. You’re guaranteed a $10k judgement but can get more for “emotional damages” if the judge is a particular bigot.
Edit: it also means you can blackmail a trans person for a settlement and that’s legal too, since the threat isn’t so much the criminal fine but the civil one