PRESS RELEASE/MEDIA ALERT
From the Desk Of:
William M. Stanley Jr., Esq.
Monday, October 11, 2021
For Immediate Release:
Contact: Chad Monday, The Stanley Law Group
Phone: (540) 721-6028
Email: d20@vastanleylawgroup.com
13508 Booker T Washington Hwy
Moneta, VA 24121
vastanleylawgroup.com
Attorneys for Sadler:
Attorney General’s Filing in Skills Game Case is
“The Last Futile Attempt to Avoid a Trial”

Emporia, Virginia, October 11, 2021:  Attorneys for Virginia business owner and NASCAR legend Hermie Sadler today characterized the latest filing by Attorney General Mark Herring’s office as “the last futile attempt to avoid a trial” in Sadler’s ongoing lawsuit against the Commonwealth’s ban on skill games.

Sadler is seeking declaratory and injunctive relief in the Circuit Court for Greensville County from the provisions of Virginia Senate Bill 971, which instituted a ban on skill games.  The ban, which went into effect on July 1, has negatively affected revenue for hundreds of Virginia’s small and family-owned businesses, including convenience stores, truck stops, and restaurants. Asserting the ban is unconstitutional, Sadler’s lawsuit requests the Court restore the use of skill games in Virginia.

In response to Sadler’s lawsuit, Sadler’s attorneys contend that Attorney General Herring’s office has engaged in a continuous pattern of delay and avoidance, and has previously declined to provide information and documents to plaintiff’s attorneys as required by law. 

In a motions hearing on September 20th, the Circuit Court of Greensville County denied the Attorney General’s attempt to stay discovery and move the case to Richmond. The Court also ordered that the Defendants – the Commonwealth, Governor Northam, Attorney General Herring and the Virginia ABC – provide full and complete answers to discovery requests served on them by Sadler’s counsel.

At 11:00 a.m. tomorrow, the Court will hear the Attorney General’s demurrer to Sadler’s constitutional challenge to Senate Bill 971.  Typically filed near the beginning of a case in response to the plaintiff filing a complaint, a demurrer challenges the legal sufficiency of the complaint in civil cases. In essence, a demurrer argues that even taking all facts pled in the Plaintiff’s Complaint as true, relief by the Court cannot be granted to Sadler on his constitutional violation claims.

Bill Stanley and Ryan McDougle, attorneys for Hermie Sadler and the Sadler Brothers Oil Company, made the following statement: “On Tuesday, we are confident that the Commonwealth of Virginia’s last futile attempt to avoid a trial will fail.  The lawsuit merely seeks to protect Mr. Sadler’s constitutional rights as a small business owner. The arguments asserted in the Attorney General’s demurrer are improper, supported by neither the facts nor the law, and are downright nonsensical.  

“From the very beginning of this fight to protect the fundamental rights of small businesses against an unconstitutional overreach by the Commonwealth, it appears that the defendants believed and feared Mr. Sadler would prevail. Facing a deficiency in both the facts and the law, the defendants have been saddled with a cynical strategy of ‘delay, run, and hide.’

“We fully expect that once the Court overrules the government’s demurrer, this case will move forward with all speed and deliberation. We expect Mr. Sadler’s rights, and the constitutional rights of hundreds of small and family-owned businesses across the Commonwealth affected by this unconstitutional skill games ban, will soon be recognized, restored, and protected by Virginia’s Courts.”

Hermie Sadler made the following statement regarding the October 12th hearing: “The race to protect small business has just begun, and I am determined to see it through to the end.  As hard as the Governor and Attorney General have tried to delay and deny me and my business its day in Court, I know the fight I am waging to stop the violation of my constitutional rights from government interference and overreach will succeed.  I will not give in, and I will not give up until my constitutional rights, and the rights of other small business owners like me, are restored by the Court.”

The Court will hear the matter at 11:00 am in the Circuit Court for the County of Greensville, located at 315 South Main Street in Emporia.  Immediately following the conclusion of the hearing, Mr. Sadler and his attorneys will provide statements at a news conference.