A family of Dodgers fans who sued the team, alleging they were beaten by security guards in a 2019 National League Division Championship game because they are Latinos, have settled their lawsuit against the back-to-back World Series champions.
Lead plaintiff Rigoberto Verdin was 48 years old when he and his relatives brought the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court in June 2020, alleging negligence, assault, battery, false imprisonment and civil rights violations. One of Verdin’s sons, Rigoberto Verdin Jr., alleged one guard held a knee on his neck while he was on the ground, making it hard for him to breathe.
On Wednesday, the plaintiffs’ attorney filed court papers with Judge Gail Killefer notifying her that the case was resolved, but no terms were divulged.
In an unrelated event, another Rigoberto Verdin son and former plaintiff, David Vincent Verdin, 27, died May 4, 2022, of a gunshot wound to his right thigh, according to his death certificate, which was attached to his lawyer’s court papers.
In their previous court papers, team attorneys denied the Verdin family’s allegations and said the team was immune from liability. The lawyers also stated that the plaintiffs “knowingly, willingly and voluntarily assumed the risks and hazards incident to his activity.”
But according to the long-running complaint filed in June 2020, all of the Verdins are “passionate and supportive fans of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team.”
The Verdin lawyers said the confrontation occurred Oct. 9, 2019, after the Dodgers’ season-ending 7-3, 10-inning loss to the Washington Nationals in Game 5 of a National League Division Series. The family was leaving the stadium and near an exit when they were “accosted” and “battered” by security guards who called them “gang bangers, thugs and homies,” according to the plaintiffs’ court papers, which further stated that none of the Verdins are gang members.
However, the Latino family was subjected to racial profiling even though more than half of fans who attend Dodgers home games are also Latinos, according to the plaintiffs.
Verdin Jr. was trying to help his late sibling David, then 24, who had been put in a choke hold when the guards tackled Verdin Jr. and took him to the ground, where one placed a knee on his neck, according to the plaintiffs.
“I can’t breathe,” Verdin Jr. shouted as he was subsequently struck on the body and head, the plaintiffs alleged.
Rigoberto Sr. suffered injuries to one hand and arm after being tackled to the ground and his daughter, 18-year-old Jamie, received a broken nose, according to the plaintiffs.
Verdin Jr. and David Verdin were arrested, but not charged, according to the family’s court papers.
The Dodgers allegedly refused to explain the guards’ alleged conduct and ignored the plaintiffs’ requests for witness statements and other information, the plaintiffs said.