A New Jersey woman who yelled at a bank employee when she was asked to put on a mask tried to claim to a judge this Friday that her outburst was protected free speech.
But as The Washington Post points out, Judge Robert C. Wilson of New Jersey Superior Court disagreed with Lilach Kuhn‘s attorney and refused to dismiss the lawsuit that was filed against her.
Video of the incident recorded by a bank customer first made headlines in Nov. 2020, and it shows Kuhn telling Citibank worker Sanaa Rami that she will “take this all the way” after refusing to put on a mask as requested by Rami. The video was uploaded to Twitter by user @FirenzeMike, but the account has since been suspended.
“I’m going now to court to fight masks, and you are not going to tell me what to do,” Kuhn said.
“Give me your card with your name because this branch is going to hear your name,” she continued. “You’re going to become famous. Do it now. Do it now. You work for me, I do not work for you.”
“Don’t make me wear your mask,” Kuhn yelled after Rami asked if she wanted one. “Are you trying to kill me? What happens if you have corona?”
Kuhn then went on to claim that she was a scientist and there is “no corona.” She ultimately left the bank before police arrived.
Rami’s attorney Usmaan Sleemi characterized Kuhn’s behavior as an assault, saying that civil assault doesn’t require physical contact and Kuhn threatened Rami when she said she would get her fired from her job.
“These low-wage workers like my client have to go to work every day for the last 17 or 18 months or however long it’s been, and you know they’re exposed to dangers in the workplace, like covid,” Sleemi told the Post. “Then they have to deal with things like this, and why should they? It’s not really fair.”
But according to Kuhn’s attorney, Dana Wefer, her clients was just exercising her right to protected free speech and that she didn’t physically assault Rami. But that argument failed to convince Judge Wilson, who ruled that the lawsuit can go forward.
There is no set dollar amount included with the lawsuit as of yet.
“I hope she gets justice ultimately,” Sleemi saidm, referring to his client. “Whatever that is the jury will decide.”
