The clinic’s lease was rescinded in a building at 8920 Wilshire Blvd. (photo by Tabor Brewster)

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Anne Richardson ruled on May 13 in favor of DuPont Clinic, granting the discovery motion that was filed in response to the city of Beverly Hills’ anti-SLAPP motion. According to court records from May 13, the city must turn over employees’ personal communications relating to DuPont Clinic, including “personal emails, text messages, messaging applications, social media accounts and any other personal communications responsive to DuPont’s requests.” The city is required to provide responses to the discovery motion by June 24. The hearing on the anti-SLAPP motion was continued from June 14 to Sept. 18.

DuPont Clinic alleged that the city colluded with anti-abortion activists to have its lease rescinded to prevent it from opening in 2023. The clinic was originally scheduled to open in fall 2023 in a building at 8920 Wilshire Blvd. The company that owns the property, Douglas Emmett, rescinded the lease on June 12, 2023, following anti-abortion protests. DuPont Clinic has filed separate litigation against Douglas Emmett.

Douglas Emmett did not respond to a request for comment by press time.

According to the lawsuit, the clinic, which is based in Washington D.C., landed on Beverly Hills for its new location after the city passed a resolution supporting abortion in 2022, following the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Last summer, representatives from the city met with anti-abortion activists including “Stop DuPont Clinic” organizer Tasha Barker and “Survivors L.A.” outreach director Tim Clement. DuPont alleged that while the city met with anti-abortion “extremists,” it refused to meet with representatives from DuPont Clinic. It also alleged that the city used the Beverly Hills Police Department to intimidate tenants of the Wilshire building in a letter that warned of potential safety risks during protests. The lawsuit argues that the letter was meant to scare tenants and put pressure on the landlord to rescind the lease.

The lawsuit named the city, former mayor Julian Gold, City Manager Nancy Hunt-Coffey, Deputy City Manager Keith Sterling, City Attorney Laurence Wiener and BHPD Chief Mark Stainbrook as co-defendants.

According to the ruling, the city must turn over messages sent by all five co-defendants in addition to messages sent by former City Councilwoman Lili Bosse, City Councilman Lester Friedman, City Councilwoman Sharona Nazarian, City Councilman John Mirisch, Assistant City Manager Ryan Gohlich, BHPD Captain Max Subin, BHPD Sgt. Matthew Stout and BHPD Officer Mark Schwartz. Additionally, DuPont will have the opportunity to choose five additional city employees who must turn over messages related to the clinic.

“DuPont is very pleased with the court’s ruling and looks forward to reviewing the documents and information the court ordered the city to turn over, including in particular the communications of certain city employees outside of their official email accounts,” DuPont’s attorney Jessica Corpuz said.

The city of Beverly Hills issued a statement on May 15 in response to the ruling.

“As the case of DuPont Clinic v. city of Beverly Hills proceeds, the city would like to address this week’s decision in L.A. Superior Court. On Monday, [May 13], the court heard DuPont’s request to have the city search for further communications and provide information related to the case. DuPont argued that this request was necessary to respond to the city’s motion to dismiss the vast majority of the case, known as an anti-SLAPP motion,” the statement read. “The court partially granted DuPont’s motion and continued the hearing on the city’s anti-SLAPP motion until September. The city will comply with the court’s ruling and is looking forward to the September hearing on its anti-SLAPP motion. To date, the city has provided over 3,000 pages of responsive documents in this case. The city of Beverly Hills has been very clear in its position of strongly supporting a person’s right to choose. The decision to rescind DuPont Clinic’s lease was not made by the city of Beverly Hills.”