A judge struck down the class-action status of an unfolding lawsuit against the Lunada Bay boys. Photo: Heyden
As one of the most high-profile legal challenges to surfing’s historic albeit nasty dance with localism continues, a federal court judge delivered an important decision this week to strike down the class-action status of one of the pending lawsuits against the Lunada Bay Boys.
U.S. District Court Judge James Otero ruled the plaintiffs and their legal team proved ineffective in demonstrating that thousands of people had been adversely impacted by the actions of the Bay Boys, as they claimed.
An expert provided testimony estimating that a destination like Lunada Bay would normally attract between 20,000 to 25,000 visitors per year if it weren’t for the Bay Boys. The actual number of visitors is somewhere between 1,500 and 3,000 per year.
In the ruling, Judge Otero rejected that claim. He said deterred visitors cannot argue that they’ve been impacted by the Bay Boys.
The judge also ruled to limit the number of plaintiffs to those impacted within two years of the March 29, 2016 lawsuit filing date, thus eliminating decades-old claims of harassment. As a result, only nine individuals remain in the plaintiffs’ case – a number too small to meet the requirements for class action certification.
The defendants celebrated the ruling. “We didn’t think this was a class action from the beginning, so it just finally came to a point where the court is beginning to formally agree with our position,” Pat Carey, who represents one of the defendants, Allen “Jalian” Johnston, told the Daily Breeze.
Diana Milena Reed, one of the plaintiffs, alleges Johnston poured beer on her and exposed himself. Johnston and his attorney deny the allegations.
Attorneys Vic Otten and Kurt Franklin, who represent the plaintiffs, plan to weigh their options, and potentially appeal the ruling. “We have very good factual information that we did not have previously that we will be bringing in, whether it’s in the federal litigation or the state litigation,” Otten told the Daily Breeze. “There are plenty of other defendants actively involved in the harassment of outsiders.”
