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In the 1990s, the commission — which is funded by an assessment of the gross dollar value of California avocados sold — invested in research to establish the fruit’s health efficacy, said avocado farmer Duane Urquhart, a commission board member at the time.

Once the avocado’s nutritiousness was established, Urquhart said, the commission launched a marketing and education campaign to teach consumers how to use them, even working with cooking schools to develop recipes.

“All of that taken together makes the city, including DWP, culpable for the harms that the clients have suffered – losing their homes and all of their valuable possessions,” said Crystal Nix-Hines, a partner at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, the law firm representing the plaintiffs.

She then worked as an executive assistant at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, a law firm that has represented Elon Musk, Alec Baldwin, Jay-Z and other high profile clients.

Dane Urquhart, a third-year Texas student, called the police presence and arrests an “overreaction,” adding that the protest “would have stayed peaceful” if the officers had not turned out in force.