UCLA encampment protesters can move forward with lawsuit, judge rules
A judge has ruled that a group of UCLA professors and students can proceed for now in their lawsuit brought against the UC Regents in which they allege their rights to free speech and expression were violated when they and others, who are pro-Palestinian, were bullied and attacked by counter-protesters in the spring of 2024.
The Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit was brought by UCLA professors Salih Can Asiksoz and Graeme Blair, as well as Bruin students Benjamin Kersten and Catherine Washington. The plaintiffs further contend the school administration was hostile to their cause, failed to protect them and ordered the May 1, 2024 dismantlement of their encampment that was put up on April 25.
On Monday, Judge Samantha Jessner overruled a challenge to the lawsuit in which UC attorneys maintained that UCLA made the “reasoned decision” to request law enforcement assistance to clear the encampment immediately for the safety of the campus community. The UC Regents also contended it was immune from damages.
“The fact they did not declare an unlawful assembly while there was alleged violence occurring at the encampment, but instead waited nearly 24 hours until the violence had ended, is circumstantial evidence that defendants were motivated not by public safety but rather by, at least in part, plaintiffs’ protected speech activity,” the judge wrote.
The judge did dismiss individual defendants from the case as well as the plaintiffs’ requests for punitive damages. Jessner had heard arguments in the case on Oct. 22 and took the issues under submission before ruling on Monday.
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