Ex-UVA Lacrosse Player George Huguely V Ordered to Pay $15M In Wrongful Death Lawsuit

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A jury ruled Monday that George Huguely V, who is a former University of Virginia lacrosse player serving a 23-year prison sentence for the murder of Yeardley Love, must pay $15 million in damages in a wrongful death lawsuit.

Denise Lavoie of the Associated Press reported the jury ruled Huguely must pay $7.5 million each in compensatory damages to Love’s mother, Sharon Love, and her sister, Lexi Love Hodges.

The wrongful death lawsuit initially asked the jury to award $29.5 million in compensatory damages and $1 million in punitive damages to Sharon Love, who is the administrator of Yeardley’s estate.

Huguely and Yeardley Love were both lacrosse players at Virginia who had a relationship.

He was convicted of second-degree murder during a 2012 criminal trial after she was found beaten to death in her apartment in 2010. A medical examiner ruled the cause of death to be blunt force trauma to her head.

While the jury awarded the compensatory damages to Love’s family, it did not award any punitive damages.

Huguely’s lawyer, Matthew Green, argued his client had drunk heavily prior to confronting Love in her apartment and was not aware she died until questioned by police. Therefore, Green said, it was not the “willful and wanton” conduct necessary for punitive damages to be awarded.

Huguely himself testified he does not remember the majority of the details from that night, including when he broke into her room and fatally injured her.

“I miss her and think about her every day,” he said to Love’s mother and sister. “I would do anything to take back that night. I take responsibility for what happened to her and I should have never gone over to her apartment that night.”