Last week, Judge William J. Monahan of the Superior Court of California County of Santa Clara denied a request submitted by former Milpitas Vice Mayor Karina Dominguez…
In the request, Dominguez asked that the defamation lawsuit that was filed against her earlier this year by Councilmember Hon Lien be dismissed.
In Lien’s complaint, filed on January, 7, 2025, she stated that while she was running for mayor of Milpitas in 2024, Dominguez made false and hurtful statements about her on social media and directly to two different individuals in the community.
In one text to a political figure in Milpitas, Dominguez wrote that Lien had done business in another country and that she was banned from ever setting foot there again, claiming Lien would be arrested if she ever returned.
In another exchange with a Milpitas resident, as well as a Facebook post, Dominguez wrote that Lien was involved in evicting a mother and child in Vietnam from their home.
On February 25, 2025, Dominguez filed a motion under the Anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) Statute to strike the complaint and asked that Lien pay all of her attorney fees and costs.
The Anti-SLAPP statute is a law meant to protect those being sued as a way to silence them from expressing their free speech rights.
In Dominguez’s motion, it stated that Dominguez’s statements were “free speech in connection with public issues.” Dominguez also claimed that her social media post was “protected activity” and an issue of public interest related to revealing Lien’s character and qualifications for public office.
But a court order from last month shows that Dominguez’s request was denied…
Read the order, “The matter should be something of concern to a substantial number of people. Accordingly, a matter of concern to the speaker and a relatively small, specific audience is not a matter of public interest. Additionally, there should be a degree of closeness between the challenged statements and the asserted public interest.”
The document also mentioned that Dominguez had no evidence showing that her statements about Lien and the family in Vietnam were at all connected to Lien’s campaign for mayor.
“The court finds that defendant Dominguez did not meet her burden in demonstrating that the complaint arises from protected activity,” the order went on to state.
Along with denying Dominguez’s request to strike Lien’s complaint, the court also denied the request for Lien to pay her attorney fees.
When the Beat spoke to Dominguez’s attorney, he said that they would be appealing the judge’s decision.
“We are confident that his decision will be reversed on appeal,” said attorney James O’Donnell of McManis Faulkner Law Firm.
The Beat will stay on this story.
