Wisconsin federal judge rules wrongful death lawsuit against Kyle Rittenhouse can proceed

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A wrongful death lawsuit filed by the father of a man shot and killed by Kyle Rittenhouse during a night of tumultuous protests in 2020 may proceed, a federal in Wisconsin ruled Wednesday. 

The father of Anthony Huber – one of two men Rittenhouse killed – filed the lawsuit in 2021. The lawsuit, which names Rittenhouse, police officers and others ad defendants, accuses officers of allowing for a dangerous situation that violated his son's constitutional rights and resulted in his death. 

Kyle Rittenhouse (Photo by Sean Krajacic - Pool/Getty Images) (Getty)

Anthony Huber's father, John Huber, also alleged that Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time of the shootings, conspired with law enforcement to cause harm to protestors. John Huber is seeking unspecified damages from city officials, officers and Rittenhouse.

U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman has dismissed motions filed by Rittenhouse and the government defendants seeking to dismiss the lawsuit.

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In allowing the case against Rittenhouse and the others to proceed, the judge said that Huber's death "could plausibly be regarded as having been proximately caused by the actions of the governmental defendants."

Rittenhouse was charged with homicide, attempted homicide and reckless endangering for killing Anthony Huber and Joseph Rosenbaum and wounding a third person with an AR-style semi-automatic rifle in the summer of 2020 during a tumultuous night of protests over the shooting of a Black man, Jacob Blake, by a white Kenosha police officer.

Kyle Rittenhouse puts his hand over his face after he is found not guilt on all counts at the Kenosha County Courthouse in Kenosha, Wis., on Friday, Nov. 19, 2021.  (Sean Krajacic/The Kenosha News via AP, Pool)

Rittenhouse had gone to Kenosha from his home in nearby Antioch, Illinois, after businesses were ransacked and burned in the nights that followed Blake's shooting. He joined other armed civilians on the streets, carrying a weapon that authorities said was illegally purchased for him because he was underage.

Rittenhouse first killed Rosenbaum, 36, in the parking lot of an auto dealership and as Rittenhouse ran from the scene he stumbled and fell. Anthony Huber, 26, struck Rittenhouse with his skateboard and tried to disarm him. Rittenhouse fell to the ground and shot Anthony Huber to death and wounded demonstrator Gaige Grosskreutz, 27.

Rittenhouse was acquitted of all charges in November 2021 after testifying he acted in self-defense. 

"We disagree that Mr. Huber has stated any plausible claims against Kyle, but although this ruling allows the case to proceed for now, it does not change the facts. As most of America fully understands, the only reason Kyle came into contact with Anthony Huber that night is that Huber struck Kyle on the head with a skateboard and knocked him to the ground while Kyle was fleeing a mob of other attackers and running toward Kenosha police to turn himself in," Rittehouse attorney Shane Martin said in a statement. 

"Huber then tried to forcibly disarm Kyle as he lay in the street before striking Kyle in the head a second time. Those blows caused Kyle injuries he still suffers from today. There simply was no conspiracy between Kyle and the Kenosha police to single out Anthony Huber, and as one jury has already found, Kyle’s actions that night were not wrongful and were taken in self-defense."

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Wednesday’s case is one of several ongoing civil lawsuits filed in the wake of the shootings. Grosskreutz last year filed a similar lawsuit against Rittenhouse.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.