A judge has denied a second request by Scripps College to move from the downtown Los Angeles courthouse to Pomona all future proceedings for a woman’s lawsuit alleging she was wrongfully terminated in 2024 from her job as a social media manager because her pro-Palestinian views conflicted with her supervisor’s Zionist leanings.
Annika Rose Lindberg believes she was terminated for her political views, affiliations and beliefs, according to the suit.
In December, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lawrence P. Riff denied the school’s first transfer motion as “immaterial” and “premature,” but he did so without prejudice, meaning the college could bring the motion again later. The judge noted that at the time Scripps had not yet filed an answer to the lawsuit.
The Claremont liberal arts institution renewed its transfer motion on Feb. 24, again contending that a move to the Pomona courthouse was warranted based on the convenience of witnesses and to “promote the ends of justice.”
But on Thursday, Riff said the case will stay in Los Angeles and he denied the college’s motion.
“Here, there is no basis to conclude the employees identified are being called by plaintiff alone or will testify against defendant,” the judge wrote. “Plaintiff may attempt to prove her case through her own testimony and through indirect evidence.”
So, the judge added, “the court finds defendant failed to meet its burden that the convenience of third-party witnesses warrant a transfer.”
In their pleadings, Scripps attorneys stated that the scheduled witnesses live within 15 miles of the Pomona courthouse, compared to 35 to 45 miles from the downtown Los Angeles building. In addition, the city of Pomona, like the city of Claremont, is located in eastern Los Angeles County and has a greater connection to the underlying events and the Claremont Colleges community, the Scripps lawyers further contended in their pleadings.
Lindberg is still a Scripps student and Eleana Zeits, the college decision-maker in the plaintiff’s hiring and termination as a social media and website manager for the Humanities Institute, will testify regarding those decisions. Zeits lives in Rancho Cucamonga, 44 miles from the downtown Los Angeles courthouse, the Scripps lawyers’ court papers further state.
“I share in the care of my mother, who is in her eighties and needs assistance with food preparation and her medications,” Zeits said in a sworn declaration in support of the transfer motion. “For various personal reasons, my mother will come and live with me for weeks or months at a time. These stays are unpredictable and very often unplanned.”
Zeits, 64, said she was last in downtown Los Angeles five years ago and her husband drove her.
According to her suit, Lindberg was hired in October 2024 and Zeits “repeatedly praised her organizational skills and positively affirmed that plaintiff was a great fit for the role.”
Lindberg told Zeits that same day that she would soon seek time off for an upcoming student conduct hearing related to the plaintiff’s participation in an on-campus protest embracing the Palestinian cause, according to the suit, which further stated that Lindberg informed Zeits that she backed a ceasefire in Gaza, but asked her not to say anything to Zeits’ supervisor in the Humanities Institute, Yuval Avnur, whom the plaintiff believes is a “known proponent of Zionism,” the suit states.
In addition, Avnur sent out emails to Scripps alumni critical of a circulated petition calling for a ceasefire, and he also voiced anti-Palestinian statements to Scripps’ student body, referring to pro-Palestine support as “sloganeering” and “propaganda,” according to the suit filed Jan. 28.
Although Zeits assured the plaintiff that her political views would not jeopardize her job, the next day Zeits called Lindberg and said, “After a lot of thought and consideration, I don’t think you’re a good fit for this job,” the suit states.
Trial is scheduled for Aug. 2, 2027.