REGION -- Two Latino legislators have been dismissed from a lawsuit that alleged they were part of a conspiracy to oust an anti-illegal immigration group from the state's Adopt-A-Highway program.

The San Diego Minutemen had accused Assemblyman Joe Coto, D-San Jose, and state Sen. Gilbert Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, of working with Caltrans officials to revoke the group's roadside cleanup permit and remove a courtesy sign with its name.

U.S. District Court Judge William Q. Hayes dismissed the lawmakers from the suit Friday.

He cited the Noerr-Pennington doctrine, which generally gives immunity to people who lobby the government, even if they, too, are government officials.

The lawsuit will continue against Dale Bonner, the California Business, Transportation and Housing Agency director; Will Kempton, Caltrans director; and Pedro Orso-Delgado, a Caltrans district director.

The high-profile dispute stems from Caltrans' decision in January 2008 to pull the Minutemen's permit to pick up trash along a two-mile stretch of Interstate 5, near the U.S. Border Patrol's San Clemente checkpoint.

The agency said it feared confrontations along the busy road and offered to move the Minutemen to a remote location near Santee.

The action followed complaints from Latino legislators about the Minutemen's participation in the program.

Cedillo and Coto had written Kempton on behalf of the state Latino Legislative Caucus to thank him for meeting to discuss their concerns: "Your commitment to immediately revoking this organization's permit to adopt a highway and the removal of the sign in San Diego is the most prudent approach in avoiding any future violence and discrimination."

The Minutemen filed suit, saying its constitutional rights to free speech, free expression, equal protection and due process had been violated.

Hayes ordered the sign replaced last summer pending trial.

In court documents, the Minutemen argued that the legislators' letter confirmed a conspiracy against the group.

Cedillo and Coto replied that "the only thing the letter demonstrates is that the legislative defendants successfully exercised their right to petition."

Hayes' 12-page order gives the Minutemen the opportunity to amend the complaint and re-allege claims against the legislators.

The activists are seeking "somewhere in the area of $5 million" in damages, said Lowell Robert Fuselier, a Minutemen attorney.

Fuselier said Monday that no decision had been made about amending the complaint.

Call staff writer Craig TenBroeck at 760-901-4062.

Previous stories:

OCEANSIDE: Minutemen expand legal fight over highway cleanup

OCEANSIDE: Judge orders Minutemen's Adopt-A-Highway permit reinstated

OCEANSIDE: Caltrans suspends Adopt-A-Highway program

OCEANSIDE: Minutemen denied another Adopt-A-Highway stretch