A judge has denied a motion by the Southern California Volleyball Assn. to be dismissed as a defendant concerning the claims of two of four adult women who allege they were sexually abused as minors by their volleyball coach.
The plaintiffs are identified only as J., O.B., Y. and P. in the Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuits brought against Los Angeles Unified, the former coach, Jerome Lowe, and the SCVA. The women were students at Gaspar de Portola Middle School in Tarzana at the time and are now in their 20s.
On Wednesday, Judge William Weinberger denied the organization’s motion to dismiss all claims against it brought by plaintiffs Y. and P., finding only that the women can proceed with their negligence-based claims against the SCVA as well as those for sexual harassment and failure to report suspected child abuse. The women’s claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress was dismissed.
In his court papers, an SCVA attorney wrote that there is no evidence submitted that Lowe was a member of the organization, nor does anything contradict the SCVA’s assertion that the girls were not in the SCVA’s custody, care and control.
Lowe was actually employed by the LAUSD and was acting in that capacity when the girls were allegedly abused, according to the SCVA’s court papers. Prior to October 2017, the association had not received any complaints about Lowe, the SCVA lawyer further stated in his pleadings.
But the plaintiffs’ attorneys’ stated in their court papers that nowhere in its dismissal motion did the SCVA deny that a “special relationship” existed between the SCVA and the children it supervises. Lowe was approved by the SCVA, the organization could implement policies and procedures to protect athletes from sexual abuse and it ultimately did bar Lowe from coaching with the SCVA after his sexual abuse became public, according to the women’s lawyers’ pleadings.
Yet, the SCVA sought dismissal “based on the remarkable position that it owes no duty whatsoever to minors who participate on its teams, engage in its practices and travel to its tournaments,” an argument that “ignores the realities of youth sports and the well-established principles governing special relationships,” according to the plaintiffs’ attorneys court papers.
The LAUSD also opposed the dismissal motion, saying there are triable issues regarding the SCVA’s potential liability for negligence causing damages to the plaintiffs.
The SCVA also is seeking dismissal of J.’s allegations in a hearing scheduled Sept. 10.