NEXT LGBT WEDDING-CAKE TRIAL SCHEDULED
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
A California court has set a trial date in a case brought by two lesbians against a cake baker whose claims the women were searching for a lawsuit, not a wedding cake, when they came to her shop.
Superior Court Judge David Lampe on Monday scheduled Christian baker Cathy Miller’s trial for June 22.
The state Department for Fair Employment & Housing sued Miller in October 2018 on behalf of the same-sex couple.
It is the second lawsuit by the state regarding the incident. The previous case ended when a judge declared Miller’s actions were protected by the First Amendment. The state refused to appeal, and, despite the judge’s conclusion, filed a second lawsuit.
The Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund, representing Miller, filed a brief making the same First Amendment argument but also asserts the same-sex couple “fraudulently” presented themselves as customers to provoke a lawsuit and, therefore, were “unlawful trespassers.”
Miller’s lawyers contend the couple, Eileen and Mireya Rodriguez-Del Rios, “conspired with one another and/or aided and abetted one another in bringing what they know is a fraudulent and meritless complaint to … collect a money judgment.”
They participated in a “blatant abuse of process” in bringing the complaint, FCDF said, with the goal of cashing in financially as well as harming Miller and her Tastries Bakery.
Additionally, the claims are “barred because the Rodriguez-Del Rios gained access to Tastries Bakery based on their fraudulent intent to trigger this meritless lawsuit.”
“Motivated by ulterior objectives, they knowingly and fraudulently presented themselves as potential Tastries customers willing to abide by Miller and Tastries’ policies and reasonable requests. … Consequently, the Rodriguez-Del Rios were unlawful trespassers.”
The brief also argues the state’s claims are meritless because Miller and her bakery “were fully justified in lawfully exercising their free speech and free exercise rights under the First Amendment to the United States Constitutions.”
The filing contends state non-discrimination laws are unconstitutional under the First Amendment.
“As a practicing Christian and law-abiding business owner, Cathy welcomingly serves all customers,” said Daniel Piedra, FCDF’s executive director. “Cathy has never discriminated against LGBT persons, yet California bureaucrats are determined to humiliate Cathy and shutter her bakery. Their relentless hostility, which includes this meritless lawsuit, is motivated solely by their anti-religious animus.”
It was August 2017 when the same-sex couple asked Miller to create a cake for their wedding celebration, the legal team said.
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