A judge presiding over a lawsuit brought against the Hillcrest Country Club by the son of a late billionaire businessman who alleges his intermediate membership was terminated because he was considered “not socially acceptable” has told attorneys that someone placed a deposition from the case in the judge’s personal video queue.
The plaintiff in the case is Matthew Winnick, the offspring of the late dot.com billionaire Gary Winnick. Matthew Winnick, who is Jewish, alleges his interim membership at the historically Jewish private club was canceled because his wife and their children are of Latino heritage.
On Monday, Judge Colin Leis’ clerk released a minute order stating that the judge found an unsolicited deposition from the case in his own video file.
“When Judge Leis started to view the video, Judge Leis became aware after about 10 seconds that the video appears to be a video recording of a deposition in this case,” the minute order read.
Leis stopped the video’s playback and is making the disclosure to the parties to inform them that the judge is aware that someone has made the video recording available for public viewing, the minute order further stated.
The document did not state who was being deposed in the video. Depositions are not typically part of the public file.
In their previous court papers, Hillcrest attorneys denied Matthew Winnick’s lawsuit allegations, said they are barred by the statute of limitations and that the plaintiff lacks standing to bring the case.
But according to Matthew Winnick’s discrimination/retaliation lawsuit filed in February 2024, the plaintiff’s Hillcrest membership was ended in 2023 after he complained about racial discrimination by members of the club’s leadership. Matthew Winnick also alleges that he and his family were treated differently because his family does not fit the preferred racial makeup of the club by its leaders.
Hillcrest initially refused to provide any reason for the membership termination, but later submitted documents stating that Matthew Winnick was “not socially acceptable,” according to the plaintiff’s attorney’s court papers.
Gary Winnick died at his Bel Air home in November 2023 at age 76. He served as the chairman and CEO of Winnick & Co., a private equity firm that he originally established as Pacific Capital Group in 1985. In 2020, he established WCO Spectrum, a company that invests in wireless spectrum licenses in the U.S.