American University’s first black female student body president won a $725,000 judgment in her lawsuit against the owner of a neo-Nazi website and one of his followers.

Andrew Anglin, founder of the Daily Stormer, and Brian Andrew Ade are accused of targeting Taylor Dumpson in an internet harassment campaign that her lawyers said was “designed to intimidate and place Ms. Dumpson in fear for her safety,” according to the original complaint against them. Dumpson said that she has been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder and felt unsafe using public accommodations at her school as a result of the harassment.

Neither defendant ever showed up in court, according to David Ryan Brody of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the lead attorney in the case. As a result, the judge ordered a default judgment in favor of Dumpson.

Dumpson had just been inaugurated into her new role as student body president on May 1, 2017 when a masked man hung bananas from nooses on the AU campus (disclosure: AU holds the license for DCist’s parent company, WAMU). The bananas were strung up near the student government offices, and had racist messages written on them, one of which targeted Dumpson’s sorority. News coverage of the incident mentioned Dumpson’s position, and the fact that the hate crime occurred on her first day in her new role.

Anglin posted an article about the incident on his website, including Dumpson’s name and photo and links to her Facebook account, and directed his followers to “troll storm” Dumpson, according the complaint.

In December of 2018, one of the defendants named in the suit, Evan McCarty of Oregon, settled the lawsuit with an agreement to apologize to Dumpson, to publicly denounce white supremacy, to undergo “anti-hate training,” and to complete 200 hours of community service at racial justice organizations. McCarty was accused of following Anglin’s directive to harass Dumpson online, sending her several racist messages, including a photo of a banana captioned “Hey, would you like one?”

McCarty’s settlement did not include Anglin or Ade.

“One of the things that’s important to recognize is that online hate has real world consequences. We often think of the internet as this wild west where anything goes, and that’s not the case,” Brody told DCist. “There are laws that apply. And when white supremacists take to the internet to attack people of color there are real consequences that have to be addressed.”

Brody says that the judgment is important in that it holds that online threats and harassment can constitute interference with the equal opportunity to participate in public accommodations. The judge awarded compensatory damages of $101,429.28, punitive damages of $500,000, and attorneys’ fees and costs of $124,022.10. The judge also entered a restraining order against Anglin and his LLC Moonbase Holdings, and Ade. Neither of them are allowed to contact Dumpson or publish any public statements about her that are harassing, intimidating, or defamatory, per the order.

“We are incredibly proud of our client for being willing to stand up to hate and white supremacy,” Brody says. “It took a lot of courage on her part.”