CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (CBS19 NEWS) -- A trial against the organizers of the 2017 Unite the Right rally is scheduled to being on Monday.

The massive federal lawsuit accuses the organizers of conspiracy to commit violence.

The lawsuit, called Sines v. Kessler, was filed by several of the victims of the violence of Aug. 12, 2017, including several who were hurt when James Fields, Jr. drove his car into a crowd of people.

The defendants in the case are about two dozen of the rally's organizers, individuals and groups such as Jason Kessler, Richard Spencer, Chris Cantrell, and others.

It's a civil lawsuit in federal court that is meant to disrupt and bankrupt white supremacists and other hate groups that came to Charlottesville that day.

There have already been several criminal cases stemming from that weekend, and some of the defendants are currently in jail, like Fields.

When the trial gets underway, there will be several concerns.

First, will the defendants even show up? Several have already had judgments against them because they have not been cooperating with the court.

These judgments have included fines and even time in jail.

Second, how will the defendants handle themselves in court? In a civil trial, there is no right to an attorney and many of the defendants are representing themselves.

Third, how long will it take to seat a jury? The pool of potential jurors is coming from across the Western District of Virginia, not just Charlottesville.

So it may be hard to find enough people who can set aside their feelings and say "I can be fair."

There is also a mountain of evidence associated with the case. The plaintiffs claim to have terabytes of evidence proving the events of the rally were not accidental.

This kind of lawsuit has happened before, as the law upon which it is based is from the 1800s and was used to bring down the Ku Klux Klan.

The same law is also being looked at regarding the events at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.