Two Fairfax County juries awarded more than $1 million to an FCPS Latin teacher and a parent advocate after trials in June, finding that a political action committee founder posted baseless accusations on social media calling them child sex predators.

The verdict carries weight for FCPS families across the district, including in Reston, where educators and parent volunteers serve on the same types of school committees targeted in the case.

Robert Rigby Jr., a longtime FCPS educator and co-founder of FCPS Pride, and Vanessa Hall, a parent active on school committees, each won separate defamation trials against David Gordon, founder of the Virginia Project PAC.

Juries awarded Hall $700,000 and Rigby $350,000, totaling $1.05 million, according to the Virginia Mercury.

Gordon used the Virginia Project's X account to label Rigby and Hall "notorious child sex perverts with free run of FCPS" and accused them of being part of a "grooming gang" and "child abduction scheme." The juries found these were stated as facts, not opinions, and had no supporting evidence.

Rigby, who retired in 2022 after more than 20 years teaching but returned part-time, said the posts drove students away from his Latin class.

"When rumors started spreading that kids didn't even take my class because these things were being said … that's always every teacher's fear," Rigby told the Virginia Mercury. "It's always every gay teacher's fear."

Hall, a Girl Scout leader and Sunday school teacher who has provided public input at School Board meetings on LGBTQ and disability rights, said being called a child predator was "frankly the worst thing you could say about anyone."

Rigby's trial ran June 8–10 in Fairfax County Circuit Court; Hall's ran June 15–17, the Washington Blade reported.

Anti-SLAPP law's asymmetry highlighted

Virginia's anti-SLAPP statute played a central role. The law can require plaintiffs who lose defamation suits to pay the defendant's legal fees, but has no reciprocal provision awarding attorneys' fees to plaintiffs who win.

Plaintiffs' attorney Jason Zellman said that asymmetry tilts the playing field against educators targeted by online smear campaigns. He also noted Virginia's punitive damages cap in defamation cases has been frozen at $350,000 since the late 1980s.

Appeal expected

Gordon plans to appeal.

His attorney, D. Hayden Fisher, said in a statement reported by NBC Washington in July that the verdicts were "improper as a matter of law" and predicted, "the verdicts will be tossed, and a new trial ordered." Zellman said he is preparing for that challenge and believes the cases are strong because Gordon's posts contained no qualifying language such as "in my opinion."

No appeal filing deadline or hearing date has been announced, and it remains unclear whether Gordon and the Virginia Project PAC have the financial resources to pay the damages awarded.