LOS ANGELES (CN) — A Los Angeles Superior Court judge on Tuesday dismissed a left-wing activist's lawsuit against City Councilman Kevin de Leon over a physical altercation during a community Christmas event.
Judge Lynne Hobbs found that the activist, Jason Reedy, had waited too long to file the lawsuit and the six-month statute of limitations had already lapsed.
The suit centers on an incident from 2022, in the wake of the now-infamous leak of an audio recording between de Leon and his former colleagues, then-City Council President Nury Martinez and City Councilman Gil Cedillo, as well as a labor leader. The four Latino officials were discussing the city's once-in-a-decade redistricting process and could be heard making a number of racist and homophobic remarks. After the tape was made public, activists hounded the three politicians day and night, demanding their resignations (only Martinez resigned) and other reforms.
On Dec. 9, 2022, de Leon attended a Christmas tree lighting ceremony and toy giveaway in Lincoln Park, an east side neighborhood in his district, wearing a red Santa Claus hat. He was accosted by a handful of activists, who shouted at him and filmed him with their phones. The Councilman and his staff tried to make a graceful exit, but they converged with the activists in a sort of bottleneck as they tried to walk through a pair of metal doors. This led to pushing and shoving, with a smiling de Leon, still clad in the Santa hat, grabbing Reedy and pushing him against a table.
Reedy reportedly responded by punching de Leon at least once. The LA Times called the spectacle, which was caught on video and posted on social media, "another civic low."
Both Reedy and de Leon filed police reports claiming they'd been attacked by the other. No one was charged.
Reedy sued de Leon for battery and the city of Los Angeles for negligence in November 2023. In his three-page complaint, Reedy, who has called for the police to be abolished, said the city "had a duty to provide security at the event that would protect the public from de Leon’s violent bad behavior."
Judge Hobbs dismissed the city of LA as a defendant in February, citing the lapsed six-month statute of limitations.
Reedy can still file an amended complaint. The judge agreed with an argument brought forth by his attorney, Dermot Givens, that Reedy should be allowed to amend the complaint to make clear that he was suing de Leon as an individual, and not in his official capacity as a City Councilman. The statute of limitations for suing an individual for battery is two years.
"I appreciate the judge allowing for the clarification that Kevin de Leon can be held responsible for the battery of my client, as he was acting in his individual capacity," Givens said after the hearing. He said his client would be filing an amended complaint, and was confident that this time, he would make it past the demurrer stage — though, he said, his client was open to settlement talks.
De Leon, the last official on the leaked tape to hold on to public office, is in a tough reelection battle. In the March 5 primary, he finished second to 34-year-old tenant rights lawyer Ysabel Jurado, a first-time candidate. They'll face each other in a runoff in November.
The lawmaker has also filed an invasion of privacy lawsuit against two staffers at the LA County Federation of Labor who are suspected to have recorded the controversial conversation. Though police searched the home of the two staffers last summer, they have not been charged with a crime.
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