Relatives of eugenics victims have opted not to appeal to the N.C. Supreme Court a ruling that denies some of them the ability to inherit payment as heirs.

An N.C. Court of Appeals panel ruled June 6 that eugenics victims seeking compensation from the state had to be alive on June 30, 2013, for their heirs to qualify for payment following a relative's death.

The Winston-Salem Journal series on eugenics in 2002, "Against Their Will," brought awareness to the state's program, which sterilized about 7,600 people before it ended in 1974.

The three-judge panel unanimously upheld the denials by the N.C. Industrial Commission related to compensation established by the Republican-controlled General Assembly in 2013.

The June 30, 2013, date was set in the law, which created a $10 million pool for compensation payments.

"Our clients have decided not to seek further review by the N.C. Supreme Court," Elizabeth Haddix, senior staff attorney for UNC Center for Civil Rights, said Thursday.

"Although the forced sterilization of their loved ones hurt them personally and impacted their lives forever, their goal has always been to honor their loved ones, whose most fundamental rights were violated by the states 40-year eugenics program.

"They have honored them with these appeals," Haddix said.

At least 213 victims are considered by the commission to have qualified for compensation, and they received two partial checks$20,000 in October 2014 and $15,000 in November 2015.

A third and final payment is to be made after all appeals have been decided. It is not clear whether that stage has been reached.

Lawsuits were filed by the estates of three eugenics victims Hughes, Redmond and Smith, whose first names were not listed in the filings. The plaintiffs claimed the deadline for qualification "was unconstitutional on its face because it arbitrarily denied compensation to the heirs of some victims while allowing compensation to others."

The appellate judges said in their ruling that state law does not treat heirs of living victims differently than it treats heirs of deceased victims. Instead, it said, heirs of victims are treated differently than the victims themselves.

The commission denied the claims in April and May 2015. The Appeals Court ruled in February 2016 that it lacked the jurisdiction to address the constitutional challenge.

In March, the state Supreme Court sent the case back to the Appeals Court to consider the constitutional challenge.

The panel ruled June 6 "we cannot agree" that the state law violated the plaintiffs' rights to equal protection under the law.

Victims who, before June 30, 2013, were determined to be qualified and have a vested interest in compensation would have their compensation rights passed onto heirs as part of their estate.

Qualified victims were required to submit compensation forms to the commission by June 30, 2014, and 780 of a potential 2,000 living victims did.

The panel lists 250 claims as having been approved by the commission, with a "handful" awaiting final resolution on appeal.

At that rate, the compensation per approved claim would be in the $40,000 range, about $10,000 short of the recommended goal in the initial eugenics compensation legislation.

"There is nothing in the preamble indicating that the General Assembly intended to compensate the heirs of individuals who had been sterilized under the authority of the eugenics board," according to the panel ruling.

In 2002, Gov. Mike Easley apologized for the sterilizations, but it took another decade for lawmakers to set up the compensation program.

In October 2016, President Barack Obama signed a law preventing any such compensation from being used to deny need-based assistance to the victims. The bipartisan legislation was introduced by U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who led the N.C. compensation program while state House speaker.

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Relatives of eugenics victims opt not to appeal to NC Supreme Court - Winston-Salem Journal