Copyright Los Angeles Times
U.S. District Judge Fred Slaughter ruled on Tuesday mostly in favor of former Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe’s lawsuit against the Huntington Beach Union High School District and an Orange County writer that resulted in Kluwe being fired from a high school coaching job due to his political activism. Kluwe, a former UCLA and NFL punter, grew up in Seal Beach and attended Los Alamitos High School. He took on the coaching job in 2019 at Edison High School when a friend mentioned the team needed help with special teams. In February, when the Huntington Beach City Council proposed installing a plaque at the city library that was an acrostic reference to President Trump’s Make America Great Again movement, Kluwe intentionally got himself arrested at a City Council meeting as an act of civil disobedience to protest the move. Kluwe is a well-known progressive activist who made headlines in his support of same-sex marriage when he was a punter for the Vikings. Kluwe’s act drew the ire of Epting on social media, which culminated in the legal dispute when Epting cropped a post from Kluwe that the athlete argues changed what he was saying to indicate he was promoting violence. The former punter said he wanted residents to stop harassing library officials, who he felt had nothing to do with the plaque, and to instead “blow up” the phone lines and social media of city officials pushing for the plaque instead. He posted, “The library is great, as are the people who work there. Go (expletive) with the city council. Find where they work, and blow (those) places up.’’ Epting responded by adding, “I hope the library renounces this kind of language and behavior.” The post triggered a torrent of “disparaging attacks” on Kluwe with many accusing him of “threatening violence” and that he should be fired from his coaching job, Slaughter wrote. Following a call from a Huntington Beach police detective, Kluwe was dumped from his coaching gig. The school district and school issued a news release on the Parent Square app announcing Kluwe was dismissed because of his social media post. The school officials said it violated a policy. Slaughter wrote, “The online Merriam-Webster dictionary gives multiple definitions of ‘blow up,’ including ‘to overwhelm [something, such as a phone] with calls, messages, alerts etc.’ ” Slaughter sided with school officials that they have 11th Amendment immunity against being sued. But then ruled that Kluwe has adequately alleged discrimination against him due to his politics. The judge also denied a move to dismiss a liberty interests claim, noting Kluwe sufficiently alleged the news release “harmed [his] reputation as a coach and activist by stating that he promoted violence.” Slaughter denied Epting’s attempt to strike the complaint against him under the state’s anti-SLAPP law. Epting argues he was engaging in protected free speech activity. But Slaughter said Kluwe has adequately argued that Epting’s comments were defamatory because the comments created “the false impression that plaintiff promoted violence.” He added that he found Epting’s comments “are reasonably susceptible to a defamatory interpretation of promoting violence because they create the impression plaintiff told people to commit violence where the [Huntington Beach] City Council members work, and allegedly, people have interpreted the statements in such a way.’’ The judge also denied Epting’s argument that Kluwe failed to show malice. Slaughter noted that Becker, who argued he shouldn’t have to pay a fine, has taken a class on technology and the law and is enrolled in another one since a hearing on sanctions. Slaughter also ruled that writer Chris Epting’s attorney, William J. Becker Jr., must pay a $2,000 fine for citing fictional cases in legal papers that were generated by his use of artificial intelligence. Becker blamed this on a lack of resources and being overwhelmed as he was preparing for a trial that left him little time to check the work. Slaughter said Becker should be punished because he failed to check his AI-influenced work. Going forward, Becker must include a certification that his legal citations have been checked and are accurate and the judge directed the court clerk to alert the state bar to consider any appropriate action. “We’re very pleased” with the judge’s rulings, Kluwe told City News Service. “My attorneys wish we had won on the 11th Amendment questions and might explore an appeal in the future, but, overall it looks good for our case. We’re very happy how the judge ruled with this initial ruling.”
