As reported in Law360, plaintiffs represented by Lieff Cabraser and co-counsel have defeated the University of San Francisco’s attempts to get ex-college baseball players’ claims thrown out of the federal class action lawsuit alleging USF coaches Anthony Giarratano and Troy Nakamura created an intolerable sexualized environment for the team over the course of 22 years, and that USF knew about their misconduct and did nothing to stop it.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Laurel Beeler of the Northern District of California rejected defendants’ motions to dismiss discrimination claims against USF, former coach Giarratano and ex-assistant coach Troy Nakamura.
“The coaches’ behavior here plausibly was discrimination based on sex in violation of Title IX,” Judge Beeler wrote. “It was abusive, bullying, and offensive behavior that is actionable under state law. But it also — especially given Coach Nakamura’s conduct and Coach [Giarratano’s] tolerance of it — was directed against the plaintiffs because of their gender.”
The Court determined that Indiana-based NCAA’s ties to California were too threadbare to keep it as a defendant, but held that the case should continue against the University of San Francisco. The university and coaches must face several claims of negligence that also survived, with Judge Beeler noting that any remaining issues relating to the allegations would be dealt with at the summary judgment stage.
Read the full article on Law360’s (subscription) website.
Learn more about the University of San Francisco Student-Athlete Abuse Class Action.
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