Lobbyist’s attorney asks judge to dismiss former legislator’s defamation suit

SACRAMENTO -- Attorneys for a lobbyist sought to dismiss a defamation suit filed against her by a former state legislator at a hearing Thursday afternoon.

Pamela Lopez went public with allegations against Assemblyman Matt Dababneh, D-Encino, in December 2017. She charged that he cornered her in a bathroom at a party in Las Vegas in 2015 and masturbated in front of her against her will. He resigned less than a month later.

Dababneh later sued Lopez, claiming her allegations were false and she knowingly lied, likely ending his political career. Dababneh v. Lopez, 00238699 (Sacramento Super. Ct., filed Aug. 14, 2018). Lopez countered with a motion to dismiss, citing the state's anti-SLAPP statute.

Thursday's hearing focused on the legal differences between statements Lopez made in a report submitted to the Legislature and those made hours later to the press. In a preliminary ruling issued Wednesday, Sacramento County Superior Court Judge David I. Brown dismissed Dabaneh's claims around the former while allowing his claims concerning the press conference to go forward.

At the hearing, Brown said Lopez held her press conference on Dec. 4, 2017, mere hours after submitting her report to the Legislature. The judge acknowledged legislative investigations later found Lopez's allegations were "more likely true than not" but said it was not his role to decide the underlying facts in the "he said, she said" case.

"If she had held the press conference after either of those things, I think I would have less of a problem with it," Brown said. "But she didn't."

Lopez's attorney, Jean K. Hymans, said the press conference "stayed within the four corners" of what her client claimed in the report.

"What she said was a fair and accurate report of what she said to the Legislature," said the Oakland-based Levy Vinick Burrell Hyams LLP partner. "I believe there is no dispute about that."

"The defamation of Mr. Dabaneh was not even initially made in her report to the Legislature," countered Joel N. Klevens, who represents Dababneh. "If Ms. Lopez had simply read from her letter to the Assembly, she might have a case. That's not what she did."

Klevens, a partner with Glaser Weil Fink Howard Avchen & Shapiro LLP in Los Angeles, said Lopez asserted a factual allegation that had to be considered separately. He also said his client deserved the chance in a full trial to show the alleged incident did not happen and displayed malice.

Hyams tried other avenues as well. She said Brown was allowed to consider Dababneh's likelihood of prevailing. Hyams again noted the legislative findings as well as witnesses who would say either they too had been harassed by Dababneh or that Lopez told them about the incident before going public.

She also cited his status as an elected official.

"We are dealing with a public figure," Hyams said. "Even false statements may be made against them."

Brown concluded by saying he would take the arguments under submission and make a final ruling "soon."

In other sexual harassment-related news in the state Capitol, a key aide to Sen. Kamala Harris resigned on Wednesday after a 2017 settlement became public.

Larry Wallace was a senior adviser working in Harris' Sacramento office. But the claim against him related to his time working in the state attorney general's office. A former Berkeley police detective, Wallace was director of the Division of Law Enforcement.

The claim was filed by his former assistant. Current Attorney General Xavier Becerra settled it for $400,000 in June 2017. Hartley v. State of California Department of Justice, 00205613 (Sac. Super. Ct., filed Dec. 30, 2016).

In response to media questions, Harris has said she was unaware of the lawsuit before Wednesday.