Facts

On January 9, 2021, a Donald Trump demonstration took place in Pacific Beach. Several demonstrators, including Mandy Lien and Erin Smith, attended. On February 5, 2021, Lien and Smith filed suit against the City of San Diego, San Diego's Chief of Police, and the mayor of San Diego for individual liability for the Doe defendants pursuant to Section 1983; violation of the Ralph and Bane Acts; negligence; and assault and battery. The Chief of Police and mayor were later dismissed, and plaintiffs added ten individual San Diego Police Officers as defendants.

PLAINTIFFS' CONTENTIONS: Plaintiffs generally claimed that the San Diego Police Department dispersed only "the anti- Trump side" of the demonstration violating their First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights.

DEFENDANTS' CONTENTIONS: Defendants contended, and produced documents detailing that an outside agency named a suspect who threw a burning munition canister at the anti-Trump protesters and identified information and photographs of two suspected "antifa" members who were subjects of ongoing criminal investigation, all of which supported the validity of the unlawful assembly declaration and dispersal order.

Result

Though the court dismissed without prejudice the state claims, all federal claims were dismissed and the case was closed.