Ex-union accountant asks appeals court to throw out LA politician's lawsuit over racist recording

LOS ANGELES (CN) — A former union accountant argued on Friday before a California Court of Appeals panel that a lawsuit by a former Los Angeles City Council member, which accuses the accountant and his wife of secretly recording an infamous 2021 meeting, ought to be thrown out because it involves constitutionally protected activity.

In that meeting, a group of local Latino politicians and a labor leader used crass and racist language to discuss redistricting. It caused an uproar when it was leaked to the public in October 2022, leading to political fallout and resignations.

One politician in the meeting — former Los Angeles City Council member Kevin de León — didn’t resign but ultimately lost his reelection bid in 2024.

De León sued Santos Leon and his wife Karla Vasquez, accusing them of secretly recording the meeting. At the time, both Leon and Vasquez worked at the LA County Federation of Labor.

Two years ago, a trial judge denied the couple’s separate motions to strike the lawsuit under California’s anti-SLAPP statute. The law provides defendants a quick way to beat claims that aim to suppress their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech.

On Friday, a three-judge appellate panel in downtown LA appeared unpersuaded that the trial judge had got it wrong. They noted that de León’s lawsuit focused on the act of secretly recording the meeting — not any discussions about it.

“You seem to be focused a lot on your client’s communications about the tape,” Assistant Justice Anne Richardson told William Bloch, the attorney representing Santos Leon. “As I read it, I don’t see those allegations in the complaint.”

Bloch argued that Leon was accused of participating in a public discussion on Reddit about the secret recording. But as Richardson pointed out multiple times, de León’s complaint doesn’t accuse them of discussing the tape after it was leaked online.

Kimberly Casper, de León’s attorney, told the panel that the couple has denied making the recording. As such, she said they couldn’t argue that it was somehow protected activity.

Moreover, she said, the fact that the recording was leaked a year after it was made undermines any suggestion that it was made in furtherance of a public debate.

“Roughly a year separates the act from any expressive use, and no evidence establishes any purpose at the time of the recording,” Casper said.

Vasquez is also appealing the denial of her anti-SLAPP motion but waived presenting an oral argument.

The now-infamous meeting — held at a private conference room at the Federation of Labor — included de León, then-LA City Councilman Gil Cedillo, then-federation head Ron Herrera, and then-City Council President Nury Martinez.

In the 80-minute audio clip, the four Latino politicians can be heard speaking cynically and crassly about defending their political turf from their enemies — namely, from Black and white politicians.

“It’s the white members on this council that will motherfuck you in a heartbeat,” Martinez said.

“The white folks will cut you in a heartbeat,” de León agreed.

Referring to then-District Attorney George Gascón, Martinez said, “Fuck that guy. He’s with the Blacks.”

Martinez called Mike Bonin, then a progressive councilman who is white and gay with an adopted Black son, a “little bitch.”

She mocked his parenting style, saying, “They’re raising him like a little white kid." In Spanish, she also said the Black son “parece changuito,” or “looks like a little monkey.”

Cedillo, who was in his final four-year term as a councilman, said nothing offensive on the call.

In the aftermath of the scandal, both Herrera and Martinez resigned. Cedillo served out the remainder of his term.

Forensic evidence traced the Reddit post leaking the recording, as well as a Twitter account that promoted the post, to an IP address linked to the couple.

According to Bloch, the work computer at their home could have been accessed by others to create the posts and account. The couple hasn’t been charged for breaking the law, although making secret recordings is a crime in California.

It was later reported that Santos Leon may have bugged the conference in the hope of finding evidence that Herrera was trying to get Karla Vasquez, Leon’s wife who was Herrera’s executive assistant, to leave him.

Cedillo has also sued the couple, as well as the LA Federation of Labor. An LA County Superior Court judge last year rejected Leon’s anti-SLAPP bid to dismiss the claims but sustained a demurrer by the labor organization.

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