LOS ANGELES (Legal Newsline) - A lawyer booted from a Los Angeles trial attorney group is appealing the loss of his civil rights lawsuit against it.
Federal judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett on March 14 threw out the lawsuit over Neal Zaslavsky, who alleged the disciplinary process of Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles was unfair after he was riled up by anti-Semitism on a sort-of message board called Listserv.
Zaslavsky filed appeal papers on April 12 and will take his case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
His response to the executive director of CAALA, Kwedi Moore, is at issue, and CAALA cited its policy of respectful demeanor.
The March 14 ruling from Garnett tossed a claim under Title II of the Civil Rights Act, among others, finding CAALA is not a place of public accommodation.
"According to CAALA Defendants and uncontested by Plaintiff, CAALA is a private bar association that restricts membership to a segment of practicing attorneys in good standing who represent plaintiffs and do not represent certain classes of defendants," Garnett wrote, citing other membership requirements.
"Thus... the Court finds that Plaintiff has failed to plead sufficient facts to support a cognizable legal theory for his first claim."
Zaslavsky says three CAALA members were allowed to post "unfettered hatred of the Jewish people," causing him to disengage from the Listserv. But he came back for a May 15 discussion on Ron DeSantis that devolved into more Jew-bashing, he claims.
Zaslavsky called two of the posters "professional Palestinian terrorists," which earned him a 30-day suspension from the Listserv. Also suspended was a poster who wrote: "BOTH SIDES HAVE COMMITTED ATROCITIES. Don't try and corrupt my written words to suit your stupidity. You try to pull that shit with me and I will snap you back so hard you'll think you're a first-year law student again."
Zaslavsky called the post a "threat on his life." When he learned of his suspension, Zaslavsky says he reacted poorly and sent an "unfortunate" email to Moore. Before he could send an apology, he was told by CAALA president Minh Nguyen that he was out-of-line.
The email to Moore had asked whether Moore would side with anti-Semites or those who "adhere to the teachings of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who famously stated that anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism," Zaslavsky's suit says.
Two weeks later, the process of possibly expelling Zaslavsky from CAALA began. His lawsuit complains that the process was unfair, citing the participation of two lawyers whose firm represented Zaslavsky in insurance benefits litigation regarding the COVID pandemic.
A hearing on Zoom took place, and Zaslavsky refused to answer a question he deemed inappropriate and irrelevant. He was expelled from CAALA following the hearing. He says CAALA wouldn't let him be represented by counsel, refused to provide him with requested documents, wouldn't allow him to call witnesses on his behalf or examine other witnesses and accusers and imposed a five-minute limit on his oral argument.
Garnett granted the defendants' motions under the anti-SLAPP law, which protects speech deemed to be protected. Because of that, she ordered Zaslavsky to pay the defendants' attorneys fees.
Zaslavsky's entire response to Moore was printed in Garnett's order:
Kwedi,
I don’t know you, and quite frankly, I don’t care to know you. When Stuart Zanville ran this organization, we didn’t coddle Jew-haters and anti-Semites. You appear to have very different modus operandi. It is my understanding that your personal beliefs more closely align with the Jewhating anti-Semites who attacked me, rather than the people like me who closely align ourselves with the famous words of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who famously equated anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism.
I am very comfortable being on the same side as Dr. King, and I am never going to back down when a Jew-hating, terrorist-supporting anti-Semite attacks me, Israel, or the Jewish people. Shame on you for supporting such disgusting behavior.
And you had better have issued a far more severe “punishment” to both Keith Allen and Stephen Mashney. Who made several “inflammatory, libelous, threatening, abusive, harassing,…and…hateful…personal attack[s] on” me. If I find out differently…and I will find out… be prepared for prompt and swift legal action. I don’t take lightly your libelous statements about me which you have published to multiple third parties. By this email, I am putting you on notice of potential litigation and direct you to preserve ALL of your communications – including but not limited to e-mails and facsimiles – related to this matter.
Govern yourself accordingly, Neal S. Zaslavsky, Esq., CEO and Managing Attorney.