LOS ANGELES – A former public school teacher who launched a racist and anti-immigrant tirade against a Santa Clarita street vendor was ordered by a judge to pay over $49,000 for his harmful actions.
MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund) filed the lawsuit in May 2024 on behalf of the fruit vendor. The suit, filed in the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, accused Gnel Frankian, then a Moorpark High School teacher, of violating California’s Tom Bane Civil Rights Act’s prohibition on interfering with an individual’s right to conduct business, as well as violating the state’s Ralph Civil Rights Act’s ban on intimidating or threatening violence on individuals of a protected class, including immigrants. On Tuesday, Judge Gary I. Micon issued a default judgment against Frankian, ordering him to pay damages and a monetary penalty, as well as to pay attorneys’ fees and costs. In total, the Court ordered Frankian to pay over $49,000 as a result of his discriminatory conduct.
“Threatening conduct based on racial and nativist hate is unlawful in the state of California and elsewhere,” said Thomas A. Saenz, MALDEF president and general counsel. “This outcome demonstrates that hateful and discriminatory conduct still has negative consequences in this country for the perpetrators.”
In September 2023, Frankian approached the vendor, a native of Mexico, as he stood selling fruit near the parking lot of a Santa Clarita gas station. Frankian began yelling expletives at the man, telling him: “Get the f… out of here, you f.. illegal.” The fruit vendor recorded the incident on his cell phone. On the video, Frankian can also be heard yelling at two gas station customers who expressed concern and came to the aid of the man. One woman warns the fruit vendor to be careful of Frankian’s car as it begins to move closer to him as Frankian exits the gas station.
“By entering default judgment, the Court recognized that California law protects immigrants from discrimination and any violation of these rights will not be tolerated,” said Luis Lozada, MALDEF staff attorney. “Let this be a warning to anyone emboldened to commit similar acts: there will be harsh financial consequences.”
In 2021, MALDEF expanded its work to address the rise in open hostility and intolerance aimed at the Latino community. This case was one of the first to be filed under the program area, “Freedom from Open and Obvious Bias and Racism”.