Superior Court Judge Dismisses Bay Area Employers' Lawsuit Against Day Laborers and Non-Profit Group – Saying it Chills Free Speech


For Immediate Release: September 14, 2004

SAN FRANCISCO – The Alameda Superior Court dismissed a lawsuit filed against two day laborers, a San Francisco based non-profit group, and members of its legal staff, by employers who hired the day laborers but then refused to pay them. The court ruled that Marvin and Cynthia Maltez’s lawsuit was in violation of the anti-SLAPP statute, which was enacted to put a stop to lawsuits designed to chill the valid exercise of free speech.

Alameda Superior Court Judge James Richman held that La Raza Centro Legal’s advocacy work on behalf of the day laborers was “an attempt to highlight the broader public issue of labor abuses against workers who are hired informally.” Judge Richman issued his decision on September 9, 2004.

“This is a real victory for day laborers and their advocates,” said Hillary Ronen, an attorney for La Raza Centro Legal, who was named as a defendant in the case. “The employer filed the suit to silence our efforts to advocate on behalf of our clients who have not been paid in full for their work. The Court has affirmed our right to use public protest as a means to hold unscrupulous employers accountable.”

Cooperating ACLU attorney Benjamin Riley of Chapman, Popik & White added: “The court’s decision sends a message to employers throughout the state: Do not abuse day laborers and expect to find refuge in the justice system. Employers who shirk their legal responsibilities -- and then sue the public interest groups that advocate on behalf of the victims -- will find out quickly that California law does not protect them.”
The day laborers, Israel Mendez and Miguel Perez, and their advocates were protesting the actions of the Maltez's, who refused to pay their former employees their full wages for four months of work installing carpets in Bay Area homes and hotels. La Raza Centro Legal’s Day Labor Program recently won a judgment Mendez and Perez for more than $20,000.

On April 28th, after the employer sued the day laborer and their advocates, the ACLU of Northern California filed a special motion to strike under California’s anti-SLAPP statute. Enacted in 1992, the statute incorporates the California Legislature’s express declaration that “it is in the public interest to encourage continued participation in matters of public significance, and that this participation should not be chilled through abuse of the judicial process.”

“This was a classic SLAPP suit: retaliation for engaging in core constitutionally protected activity,” added ACLU attorney Margaret Crosby, co-counsel for the defendants. “The strategies that these workers and their advocates used to publicize the plight of day laborers—picketing, leafleting, letter writing and press—have historically been critical to civil rights movements in America.”

La Raza Centro Legal will hold a news conference and rally on Monday, September 20 at 10:30 am. Speakers will include La Raza staff attorney, Hillary Ronen, cooperating ACLU-NC attorney, Benjamin Riley, and the day laborers, Israel Mendez and Miguel Perez. The event will be held at 3358 Cesar Chavez Street in front of the day labor program's new program site.