On March 11, 2021, a class action civil rights lawsuit was filed against City of San Jose on behalf of the NAACP of San Jose/Silicon Valley, the San Jose Peace and Justice Center, and demonstrators and observers who were brutalized and racially targetted by San Jose Police during the late May 2020 demonstrations in response to the murder of George Floyd. 

The plaintiffs are seeking redress for the violation of their constitutional rights to assemble, protest, and be free from racial discrimination, disability discrimination, excessive force, and wrongful arrest. The case is filed as a class action on behalf of all those who were subjected to police violence, including those subjected to the use of teargas and other chemical weapons, explosive grenades, impact munitions, and batons; as well as those who were arrested for violating the curfew. 

The plaintiffs are represented by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area and civil rights attorneys Rachel Lederman, James B. Chanin, and R. Michael Flynn.