Malamud, et al. v. City of San Clemente, et al.
Case No. 8:19-cv-00855-JVS-KES (C.D. Cal. May 10, 2019)
Please see the official complaint here.
Please see the settlement agreement here.
Dhillon Law Group is proud to represent Brad Malamud, Chanel Fetty, and Anthony Rubolino in their civil rights lawsuit against the City of San Clemente for violations of their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights to free speech and due process, as well as for violations of California’s open-meeting and public records laws.
For too long, the City Council of San Clemente has stifled the Constitutional and statutory rights of its residents, leaving our clients with no choice but to seek an injunction against the City to prevent further violations of their rights.
On April 16, 2019, in an effort to prevent one member of the public, Brad Malamud, from criticizing the City and its City Council, the City adopted a new, unwritten, viewpoint-discriminatory speech restriction limiting the public’s ability to speak to only one, three-minute period—in direct contradiction of the City’s long-standing practice of allowing two such opportunities to speak, per person. After one Council member walked out of the meeting in protest of the free speech violation, the City’s mayor unlawfully expelled all public audience members, including Malamud, Fetty, and Rubolino, from the meeting, and required that they pledge to follow the City’s new, unconstitutional speech restriction before being allowed to reenter. After Malamud refused to abide by the City’s unlawful restriction on his First Amendment rights, the City removed him from the meeting, under threat of force.
Unfortunately, the City Council’s trivialization of its resident’s Constitutional rights is nothing new. Council members have routinely interrupted public speakers, told them not to criticize individual Council members when speaking, and refused to provide access to information and documents that are required to be disclosed to the public under California law. All such actions are unlawful and carefully employed to prevent the public from exercising their Constitutional and statutory rights to monitor, speak about, and petition their government. With the assistance of Dhillon Law Group, Malamud, Fetty, and Rubolino endeavor to change this narrative.
News:
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