Three men have agreed to drop the Los Angeles Lakers as defendants in their lawsuit alleging they were attacked by security guards while taking photos of the Jordan Brand Koenigsegg rare sports car parked outside the Crypto.com arena in February to celebrate the trade of guard Luka Doncic to the Lakers.
But plaintiffs Cesar Moran, Jacob Arciniega and Josue Arciniega left the door open to bringing the NBA team back into their Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit. Filed April 2, the complaint named as defendants L.A. Live Properties LLC, the Lakers and other entities.
On Thursday, the plaintiffs’ lawyers filed court papers with Judge Dean J. Kitchens stating the Lakers were being dropped from the case based on representations by L.A. Live. Those assertions included that the Lakers did not control or have any other involvement with the premises or the event where the incident occurred and that the Lakers did not employ any security personnel in the area.
However, no statute of limitations will be enforced and the plaintiffs can bring the Lakers back into the case if subsequent discovery warrants the plaintiffs doing so, their attorneys’ court papers state.
According to the suit, on Feb. 25 the plaintiffs were looking at the sports car on display for fans to view and take photographs of in the 800 block of Olympic Boulevard when they were assaulted by private security. Doncic was traded to the Lakers at the beginning of February.
The security guards punched in Moran’s face and he fell onto the pavement, then hit him on the head and he became unconcious, the suit alleges. Josue Arciniega broke his right fibula trying to help Moran and Jacob Arciniega was struck several times in the head by the guards, the suit states.
The plaintiffs had committed no crime, were unarmed and were not a threat to anyone, the suit further states.