Attorneys for a Black onetime student who is suing Harvard-Westlake School are seeking to depose an Asian Harvard University student and onetime water polo teammate of the plaintiff who is accused of making racially charged statements.
Plaintiff Aidan Romain alleges he was subjected to repeated incidents of sexual assault and racial attacks and whipped with exercise bands in the weight room. The Alhambra Superior Court lawsuit targets the Studio City school, its president, Romain’s former coach and ex-teammate Lucca Van Der Woude. The abuse was allegedly part of a longtime culture in which violence and humiliation were made normal and enabled through the school’s coaching staff and administration.
A non-party in the case who also is accused of making racist statements, Connor Kim, is described in the plaintiff’s lawyers’ court papers as a “rising” sophomore at Harvard University who was a member of the New England school’s water polo team this school year.
A commission to take a deposition in another state is a legal document issued by a California Superior Court clerk and it authorizes an attorney or party to depose a non-party witness living in another U.S. state, territory or foreign nation. The commission is used to petition the local court where the witness — in this case Kim — resides to issue a local subpoena.
According to Romain’s lawyers’ pleadings, Kim and Van Der Woude whipped the plaintiff in the Harvard-Westlake weight room in an alleged re-enactment of slavery and called him the “N” word.
“Connor Kim and Lucca Van Der Woude openly boasted that they would give themselves permission to use the (“N” word) if their team won a particular game or tournament,” Romain’s attorneys further state in their court papers.
The pair referred to Romain as the team’s `secret weapon” during night games because the opposing team wouldn’t be able to see him in the pool because of the color of his skin, according to Romain’s attorneys’ court papers.
Kim also ridiculed Romain over the fact that his ancestors had been enslaved and subsequently forced to pick crops, according to Romain’s attorneys’ court papers.
In his lawsuit, Romain alleges that from August 2022 until February 2024, while a minor, he was sexually assaulted, harassed and humiliated by Van Der Woude and other Harvard-Westlake water polo teammates, often in the presence of Harvard-Westlake employees. Van Der Woude’s alleged misconduct occurred in the weight room and under the pool water surface, the suit further states.
Romain and Van Der Woude are both now adults and have left Harvard-Westlake.
Attorneys for the school, water polo coach Jack Grover and school President Richard B. Commons stated in their previous court papers that Romain’s claims for negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and civil rights violations are not supported.
The lawyers said the only allegations concerning the president are that he was previously a headmaster at another school where sexual abuse allegedly took place between students.