Sures v. Kupsh (UCLA)

Summary

On February 5, 2025, approximately 50 pro‑Palestinian protesters, including graduate student Dylan Kupsh, demonstrated outside the home of Jay Sures, a University of California regent, carrying signs, chanting, and protesting what they described as his role in protecting University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) investments tied to Israel and weapons manufacturing. Sures identified Kupsh as a principal organizer and filed a lawsuit seeking a restraining order, alleging he was a “ringleader” of the protest and had directed demonstrators. Kupsh, through counsel, disputed that characterization, stating he was one of several participants and that his involvement consisted of organizing and engaging in protest activity addressing matters of public concern, and filed an anti‑SLAPP motion asserting the claims targeted protected speech.

In May 2025, a judge ruled in favor of Kupsh on the anti‑SLAPP motion, finding that Sures had not substantiated his claims and that the action could not proceed. The court determined that Kupsh’s conduct arose from constitutionally protected protest activity and rejected assertions that he had led or directed the demonstration. The ruling triggered California’s fee‑shifting provision for unsuccessful anti‑SLAPP motions.

On August 14, 2025, a Los Angeles court ordered Sures to pay $150,624 in attorneys’ fees to Kupsh following the unsuccessful restraining order effort. The fee award followed the earlier anti‑SLAPP ruling and reflected the statutory requirement that a prevailing defendant recover fees. The order concluded the proceeding arising from Sures’s attempt to restrict Kupsh’s participation in future protests.

The dispute occurred within a broader set of lawsuits arising from protest activity at UCLA during 2024 and 2025, including actions by pro‑Palestinian protesters alleging civil rights violations and by Jewish students that resulted in a multimillion‑dollar settlement, alongside federal actions under the Trump administration addressing antisemitism on college campuses, such as formal investigations, targeted lawsuits against UCLA, and the conditioning or withholding of federal funding deemed tied to alleged failures to confront antisemitism.