Huntington Beach woman who sued city after alleging free speech violation loses appeal

The United States 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has dismissed the appeal of a Huntington Beach woman who sued the city after she was removed from a volunteer board position.

The appellate court’s decision, filed on Thursday, ruled against Shayna Lathus, who had sued the city in April 2021 claiming her 1st Amendment free speech rights had been violated.

Lathus was removed from the Citizens Participation Advisory Board in 2019, following her attendance at a rally in support of immigrant rights in downtown Huntington Beach. Photos surfaced online of her standing next to people who were wearing black and believed to be Antifa activists.

In her lawsuit, Lathus sought unspecified damages, to be reinstated to the Citizens Participation Advisory Board and a declaration by the city.

A U.S. district court judge ruled against Lathus that October before her lead attorney, Costa Mesa-based Andrea Bird-Steiner, appealed.

Bird-Steiner said in an email Tuesday that she was evaluating Lathus’ next steps.

“We are disappointed in the result, both on behalf of Ms. Lathus and on behalf of future city volunteers who may have to face the choice of serving their communities or being silenced as private citizens,” Bird-Steiner said. “Citizen Participation Advisory Boards taking input from communities on housing projects should have diverse members from diverse communities so that people from marginalized communities can be heard and served. By firing Ms. Lathus from the CPAB for voicing her support for immigrant rights at a rally in her capacity as a private citizen, Huntington Beach sent a message saying that the people listening to the marginalized members of the community must themselves stay silent.”

Lathus, a middle school science teacher, said after the rally that she didn’t know the activists would be attending and didn’t engage with them. She made a public statement condemning violence and discussing the importance of civic engagement, though she didn’t specifically mention Antifa.

That wasn’t enough for then-City Councilwoman Kim Carr, who had appointed Lathus a year earlier but removed her from the position following the controversy, citing lack of shared values.

The Ninth Circuit three-judge panel agreed with the district court that Lathus was effectively Carr’s “public face” on the advisory board.

“Because the public could readily infer that a CPAB member’s actions and statements while serving in the role reflect the current views and goals of the appointing councilperson, Lathus was Carr’s ‘public face’ on the board,” Judge Andrew Hurwitz wrote. “The public was entitled to assume that she spoke on Carr’s behalf ... A councilperson is entitled to an appointee who represents her political outlook and priorities.”

Huntington Beach City Atty. Michael Gates, who represented the city on the initial lawsuit, said Tuesday the judges’ decision confirmed that Carr’s removal of Lathus from the board was her political prerogative, not a violation of free speech or civil rights.

“This is the position that we had taken from the very beginning,” Gates said. “On Day One, that was precisely what I had said, that this was not a free speech issue. In fact, Kim Carr’s appointment and then removal was not even an official government action. The City Council did not vote to remove her ... it was just an individual political appointment and removal.”

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