SAN DIEGO ---- An anti-illegal immigration activist from Fallbrook and an Oceanside man who founded the San Diego Minutemen group have been accused in a new lawsuit of defaming a woman who worked with organizations that monitored rallies last year at day-labor sites.

Joanne Yoon, 24, identified in the lawsuit as a college student in Los Angeles and a former San Diego resident, is asking for more than $1 million in damages from Jeff Schwilk of Oceanside, the founder of San Diego Minutemen, and activist Ray Carney of Fallbrook.

The San Diego Minutemen are a group of activists against illegal immigration. The group frequently organizes rallies to protest the hiring of day laborers in North County. Carney said he is not a member of the group.



Filed last week in the Superior Court in San Diego, the lawsuit alleges that Schwilk, Carney and others "targeted" Yoon because of her work with the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation and as an independent contractor for the American Civil Liberties Union, which has observed Minuteman rallies.

Yoon's attorney, Daniel Gilleon, said Yoon was "scared and offended" by comments Schwilk and Carney are alleged to have made about her on the Internet and in e-mails, but that was not why she moved to Los Angeles.

Schwilk could not be reached for comment Monday, but Carney said in a telephone interview that the lawsuit is a "joke" and "nonsense" and is an attempt to shift the immigration debate to a court of law because those who oppose anti-illegal immigration efforts are losing in the court of public opinion.

Gilleon said that if a lawsuit were filed for every negative comment made about Yoon in connection with rallies she has monitored, hundreds of lawsuits would be filed, but the comments at issue in the case against Schwilk and Carney were "especially egregious."

Yoon alleges in the lawsuit that Schwilk and Carney exchanged e-mails Sept. 6, 2006, as they tried to determine Yoon's name and address after noticing her monitoring them at rallies held at day-labor sites.

The next day, Schwilk is alleged to have sent a mass e-mail to the San Diego Minutemen in which Yoon was described as an "anorexic ACLU slut," which the lawsuit calls a "per se defamatory statement."

Asked about the e-mail in December, Schwilk told the North County Times that the note was intended for a close circle of people and not for the public. Schwilk also said then that the words were his and that he stood by them.

"She works for the ACLU," Schwilk said then. "She is Korean. She looks anorexic, and she dresses and looks like a slut."

An e-mail from Schwilk that included a copy of the North County Times article was attached to the lawsuit as an exhibit.

The lawsuit also alleges that Carney posted a photo of Yoon and three Latino men on the Web, "referring to her as a 'skank' who 'beds down' on a 'daily basis' with 'those little brown Border Hoppers.' "

Gilleon said the Web site "essentially accused (Yoon) of being a prostitute."

Carney said the Web site did exist, but it was a Yahoo Web site that required permission and a screen name to be seen.

Carney said Minutemen have been called criminals and pedophiles by an activist who opposes them and that Carney has been called many names, including "cracker" and "white trash," by opposition activists, but no lawsuits have resulted.

"They try to demoralize our side," Carney said. "We try to demoralize their side. That's what being an activist is all about. You're going to get called names and be spat on."

The lawsuit alleges that Schwilk and Carney "published unprivileged false statements" about Yoon that ascribed to her a lack of "chastity" and "tended to expose her to hatred, contempt, ridicule, obloquy and cause her to be shunned or avoided."

Gilleon said the comments have not prompted Yoon to stop participating in monitoring the rallies of the Minutemen and other anti-illegal immigration activists.

"She's continuing on," Gilleon said. "She's not going to let someone like Ray Carney stop her, but we're going to hold him to account for what he's done."

Contact staff writer Scott Marshall at (760) 631-6623 or smarshall@nctimes.com. Comment at nctimes.com.