From Ortiz v. Saenz, decided Friday by the California Court of Appeal (San Diego County Superior Court Judge Victor Rodriguez sitting by designation, joined by Judges Mary Greenwood and Cynthia Lie):
Saenz operated a social media account under the username "@ESSJTIMES" which, at the relevant time, was accessible to the public and had almost 80,000 followers. Saenz used the account to disseminate news pertaining to the Eastside San Jose community….
During the time period at issue in this case, Ortiz was a member of the San Jose City Council. In the fall of 2023, Saenz posted a video on his account criticizing another elected member of the San Jose City for promoting a children's event known as "Drag Queen story time." In the video, Saenz claimed the event was "inherently sexual" and posed a threat to children. He included the council member's social media account in his post (a practice commonly referred to as "tag" or "tagging"), after which Saenz's followers began posting negative messages on that council member's account.
Ortiz, in defense of his colleague, used his social media account to report Saenz to the platform for hate speech and misinformation, and posted a statement on his account suggesting that Saenz and his followers were targeting and threatening his fellow council member. Ortiz and his girlfriend, Brenda Zendejas {Saenz alleged Zendejas was also Ortiz's campaign manager}, also posted messages on their accounts asking the public to report Saenz to the social media platform for hateful speech.
In response, Saenz shared their messages on his account, with his added comment stating, in part, "You are throwing a ralley [sic] to label this page a hate page? Are you kidding me. I am only saying this once this last time." Saenz's followers responded by posting negative remarks about Ortiz and Zendejas, including accusing Ortiz of being a pedophile for defending his fellow council member.
A few months later, in December 2023, Saenz posted a video and message on his account referring to Ortiz and the same colleague as "brown puppets" and tagged Ortiz's social media account. Saenz stated that they did "not represent the Latino and Mexican community at all. Especially the majority of the community that is against grooming our children. We need those brown puppets pushing that crap on our children out of City Hall ASAP!" In the video, Saenz called Ortiz a "showered cholo" and alluded to Ortiz being a "sick fuck." Other account users responding to Saenz's post referred to Ortiz as a pedophile.
