Charlottesville Jury Awards $15 Million in Wrongful Death Case for UVA Lacrosse Player Yeardley Love

In the early morning hours of May 3, 2010, Yeardley Love, a 22-year-old senior and lacrosse captain at the University of Virginia, was beaten to death in her off-campus apartment in Charlottesville. George Huguely V, a fellow UVA lacrosse player who had been in a relationship with Love, broke down her bedroom door and attacked her. A medical examiner determined she died from blunt force trauma to the head.

Huguely was convicted of second-degree murder in February 2012 and sentenced to 23 years in prison. A wrongful death lawsuit filed on behalf of Love's mother, Sharon Love, followed that same year, but the original action was dismissed after courts ruled that Huguely lacked insurance coverage that would satisfy a civil judgment. Attorneys refiled in 2018, framing the claims around assault and battery rather than wrongful death, which cleared the coverage obstacle and allowed the case to proceed to trial.

The civil trial opened in late April 2022 in Charlottesville Circuit Court, more than 12 years after Love's death. Plaintiffs were Sharon Love, Yeardley's mother and administrator of her estate, and Lexi Love Hodges, her sister. The jury was asked to decide whether Huguely's conduct constituted willful and wanton misconduct in conscious disregard of Love's rights. Huguely testified during the proceedings and told the jury he missed Love and thought about her every day, and that he wished he could take back that night.

Kevin Biniazan of Breit Biniazan served as co-counsel for the Love family in the Virginia proceedings. The jury returned a verdict on May 2, 2022, finding Huguely liable. It awarded $7.5 million in compensatory damages to Sharon Love and an equal $7.5 million to Lexi Love Hodges, for a total of $15 million. The jury did not award punitive damages, a point Huguely's defense attorney Matthew Green cited as evidence that his client received a fair trial a decade earlier.

Sports Illustrated and WSET ABC 13 both reported the verdict the same day it was returned. The $15 million figure represents combined compensatory damages to both plaintiffs and was among the largest wrongful death verdicts in Virginia that year.