A bail bond company and an immigrants advocate settled a lawsuit that focused on the latter’s posting of a statement on Facebook that the firm engaged in “slavery” by having its clients wear GPS ankle bracelets.
Lawyers for Nexus Services Inc. filed a notice of settlement Wednesday with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Malcolm Mackey. No terms were divulged.
The lawsuit was filed in November 2015 against Byron Vasquez and the Casa de La Cultura de Guatemala en Los Angeles. The suit alleged inducement to breach of contract, interference with contractual relationship, interference with prospective economic advantage and violations of the state Business and Professions Code.
The complaint stated that Nexus requires its clients who are facing deportation to wear the GPS ankle bracelets “in order to reduce the risk that (they) will fail to appear when required by the U.S. Immigration Court.”
The devices allow both the court and Nexus to know where the clients are, reducing the chance they will skip bail, the suit stated.
Vasquez is neither an attorney nor a person experienced in posting bonds for immigrants, the suit stated. However, he “engaged in a campaign of deceptive, untrue, fraudulent and deceitful publications designed and intended to damage, harm and destroy plaintiff’s relationships with its clients,” the suit alleged.
In September 2015, Vasquez posted a comment on Facebook that Nexus engaged in “slavery” by having its clients wear the ankle devices, the suit stated. He also persuaded a Spanish-language television station to air a broadcast critical of the bracelets, according to the complaint.
Vasquez counseled Nexus clients and advised them to stop paying for the bracelets and to remove them, telling them that the requirement to wear them is “immoral,” according to the lawsuit.
In their court papers, lawyers for Vasquez stated that in addition to his work for Casa de La Cultura, their client is a journalist for both Guatemalan and U.S. media outlets. He is a recognized leader in both the Los Angeles Guatemalan community as well as the greater local Latino community, according to his attorneys’ court papers.
In his Facebook articles, Vasquez expressed his opinion and also did investigative work to support them, according to his lawyers’ court filings. However, the judge last August denied a defense motion to dismiss the lawsuit on free-speech grounds.
—City News Service