Hoa Tran’s campaign manager sues accusers
June 3rd, 2008Art Pedroza over at The Orange Juice broke the news that Edgardo Reynoso (pictured), the campaign manager that brought beaucoup problems to the Hoa Van Tran for Supervisor campaign, just filed a lawsuit against the women who accused him of trying to run one of them off the freeway.
Now, one of the women, Courtney Rychel, already has a lawsuit arising out of the same facts pending before the same court. So why didn’t Reynoso just file a cross-complaint in that lawsuit instead of filing a separate one? Who knows.
Rychel was a staff member in Hoa Tran’s campaign and is currently an intern in the offices of the Democratic Party of Orange County. The other defendant, Misha Houser, has accused Reynoso of various forms of harassment and physical threats.
Pedroza posted the PDF of the 13-page summons and complaint here. You can skip all the procedural stuff at the beginning and scroll to page 10 to read the claim.
Essentially Reynoso says he didn’t try to run Rychel off the freeway. He claims at that time he was in Hoa’s office making a phone call. Witnesses consist of his partner Kimchi Nguyen, the candidate Hoa Tran, and a third person. And presumably the other person on the line.
Reynoso’s lawsuit doesn’t invoke other statements made by Houser, viz. the gang members, the threats, the harassment, the firing of the Vietnamese campaign workers, etc.
Query: Assume Reynoso wins, when it comes time to calculate his damages, how will he separate out the damages caused by Rychel’s accusation, as opposed from damages to his reputation done by, well, himself? Recruiting gang members, making up statements by Santa Ana councilman, majorly screwing up financial disclosures, preventing the candidate from talking to the press, etc.?
Whatever happens, the several lawsuits will keep Reynoso’s boss — no, not Hoa Tran; Phu Do Nguyen, Esq. — occupied after the primary’s over.
Tags: Hoa Van Tran
