From Doe v. Buckley, filed last week in Contra Costa County (California) Superior Court:
Plaintiff and Defendant were close friends in high school and the beginning of college, but had a fallout in July of 2023. During their friendship, they frequently exchanged video and text messages through … Snapchat ….
In December of 2021, during Plaintiff's freshman year of college …, Defendant sent him a Snapchat video while Defendant was partying with some friends at the University of Portland.
Plaintiff sent a Snapchat video reply that referred to Defendant and his friends as his "niggers" …. Defendant had used this same racial slur in his initial Snapchat video to Plaintiff and Plaintiff's reply mirrored the energy and language of the Defendant's message….
[B]oth parties exchanged these Snapchat videos while they were intoxicated and their judgment was impaired. Notwithstanding, the communications were private and intended to be jokes between close friends. Plaintiff never intended anyone other than Defendant to see the Snapchat Video and reasonably expected the private communication to disappear after it was read by Defendant.
