Posted on 07/25/2010 9:40:04 AM PDT by BenLurkin
The Mongols Nation motorcycle club is seeking more than $11 million from the city for alleged defamation of character and violation of its members' civil rights. In a lawsuit filed June 25, Mongols Nation attorney Albert Perez Jr. accused Lancaster's City Council and city manager of libeling and slandering members of the club, depriving them of their civil rights under color of state law, interfering with a contractual relationship for lodging and food, and inflicting emotional distress.
Because of the alleged wrongs, the motorcycle club is asking the Los Angeles Superior Court to order the city to pay $5 million in general damages as well as unspecified special and punitive damages, plus a penalty of $25,000 for each of about 250 plaintiffs whose civil rights allegedly were violated, as well as reimbursement of fees for attorneys and experts.
Attorney William Litvak said the Mongols' lawsuit was still being reviewed.
However, the club's contention that the city closed the Desert Inn as a pretext to prevent the organization from having an event in Lancaster was inaccurate, he said.
"There were significant code violations that were more than tax issues," Litvak said.
In the documents filed in court, the Mongols' attorney described the club as a "social and fraternal organization designed to foster and promote political, social, economic, educational, religious or cultural viewpoints with an emphasis on riding, operating and maintaining motorcycles
The federal Department of Justice on its web sites and criminal filings has assessed the Mongols organization as one of the nation's most violent motorcycle gangs whose membership has been implicated or found guilty in drug dealing, conspiracy to murder, and murder itself. Earlier this year, 20 members of the gang, including its former president, Ruben "Doc" Cavazos, pleaded guilty to racketeering in federal court
(Excerpt) Read more at avpress.com ...
Sorry, Mongols, you’ll get nothing and like it. Now go take a shower.
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