Sexual Abuse Lawsuit Results

Jury Returns $9 Million Sexual Assault Verdict Against USTA

Published on: May 15, 2024 | By Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, LLP

The United States Tennis Association (USTA) has been ordered by a jury to pay $9 million in damages to tennis player Kylie McKenzie after a court determined that the organization failed to prevent her from being sexually assaulted by her coach.

Kylie McKenzie, a 25-year-old American tennis player, initiated her lawsuit in March 2022 in the US District Court in Orlando, Florida. She filed against both the USTA and USTA Player Development Incorporated, alleging that her former coach, Anibal Aranda, employed by the organization at the time, had committed sexual assault and battery against her.

Accusations also included the USTA’s gross negligence in employing and inadequately supervising Coach Aranda, despite his known history of sexual predation, which the lawsuit contended constituted a conscious disregard or indifference to McKenzie’s life, safety, or rights.

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Berryessa Union School District Pays $10M to Settle Teacher Sexual Abuse Lawsuits

Published on: May 8, 2024 | By Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, LLP

Berryessa Union School District has agreed to pay $10.3 million to a group of former Sierramont Middle School students who were groomed and sexually abused in the late 1990s and early 2000s by a teacher who in 2023 was convicted and sentenced to two decades in prison after the victims renewed their allegations against him.

The settlement with the Berryessa Union School District was announced Tuesday by the San Jose-based law firm Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, which secured the payout on behalf of three students. Two of them testified in the prosecution of Ronald Dean Gardner, who was sentenced in December to 22 years in prison after pleading guilty to sexually abusing a total of four students.

Gardner taught at the school more than two decades ago and was plagued by allegations of inappropriate conduct with students. He was allowed to resign after a police investigation at the time failed to yield any criminal charges against him. In 2021, students came forward again with abuse allegations after Assembly Bill 218, which was in effect from 2020 to 2022, granted a one-time extension of the statute of limitations.

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San Francisco Unified School District Settles Two Sexual Abuse Lawsuits for $4.5 million

Published on: March 1, 2024 | By Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, LLP

Two sexual abuse lawsuits against the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) have been settled. The lawsuits involved allegations of sexual abuse by former George Washington High School athletic director Lawrence Young-Yet Chan towards two students, identified as Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2.

According to the lawsuit, the abuse reportedly occurred on the school campus during school hours, in locations like Chan’s office, a locker room, and a stairwell. “School districts have a duty to protect their students and are required to take all reasonable steps to ensure their safety,” attorney Lauren Cerri said.

The SFUSD board of trustees approved the settlement amount following agreements between the insurance carriers, the survivors, and the district. The settlement was reached to spare the survivors from having to retell their stories and to allow them to move forward and start rebuilding their lives.

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Los Gatos Union School District settles sexual abuse lawsuit brought by two victims of fifth grade teacher

Published on: October 21, 2022 | By Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, LLP

The Los Gatos Union School District has agreed to pay a total of $5.1 million to a teenager and an adult who were sexually abused as children by Blossom Hill Elementary School teacher and youth theater director Joseph Brian Houg.

The sexual abuse lawsuit, CV No. 21CV388845, was filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court by attorneys for San Jose-based Cerri, Boskovich & Allard.

John Doe, 13, was sexually assaulted in early 2020; he will receive $900,000. John Doe 2, 23, was sexually abused in 2008-2009 and will receive $4.2 million.

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School District Settles Sexual Abuse Lawsuit by former Los Gatos HS Track Star

Published on: October 20, 2022 | By Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, LLP

The Los Gatos Saratoga Union High School District has agreed to pay a former student-athlete $3.485 million for the sexual abuse she endured for more than three years.

Beginning in 1999, student “Jane Doe” was abused by Los Gatos High School Assistant Track Coach Chioke Robinson, who began grooming her to accept his sexual advances when she was a 14-year-old freshman. The grooming escalated, and Robinson began having intercourse with Jane when she was 15.

Jane’s settlement was negotiated by Cerri, Boskovich & Allard attorney Lauren Cerri.

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Mission College $7.6 million rape settlement

Published on: September 29, 2022 | By Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, LLP

Law firm of Cerri, Boskovich & Allard announces that West Valley-Mission Community College District settles for $7.6 million with disabled rape victim

The West Valley- Mission Community College District will pay a disabled rape victim $7.6 million as a result of a lawsuit filed by the law firm of Cerri, Boskovich & Allard.

The lawsuit filed in 2020 alleged that district officials failed to protect a now 26-year-old developmentally disabled woman from a known sexual predator.

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Young women’s lives were shattered by sexual abuse, jury agrees and awards them $102.5 million

Published on: August 15, 2022 | By Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, LLP

In one of the largest civil jury verdicts in Santa Clara County history, the Union School District in San Jose has been ordered to pay $102.5 million to two young women who were sexually abused by former Dartmouth Middle School band director Samuel Neipp.

The school district has sought to overturn the verdict.

“It’s a high number but we’ve shown the court the verdict is justified,” attorney Lauren Cerri said. Ms. Cerri, from San Jose-based Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, represented one of the two women in the case.

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Marin County jury awards $10 million to survivor of Tamalpais High School sexual abuse

Published on: May 26, 2022 | By Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, LLP

A Marin County jury ruled that the Tamalpais Union High School District was 100 percent negligent for the 2003 sexual abuse of a then-high school student by its then PE teacher and tennis coach Normandie Burgos (Marin County Superior Court, Case# CIV2001133). It awarded the student $10 million.

The student, Alexander Harrison, is now 36 years old.

His lawsuit against the Tamalpais Union High School District was filed in March 2020 by the San Jose-based law firm of Cerri, Boskovich & Allard under the auspices of AB 218, which extends the statute of limitations to allow older child sexual abuse cases to be filed through December 2022.

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Union School District settles 40-year-old sexual abuse case for $7.5 million

Published on: May 26, 2022 | By Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, LLP

Teacher showed no remorse for abusing as many as 40 male students

When Dennis Thomas started teaching at Cinnabar Elementary School in San Jose, it wasn’t long before school officials became aware that he was befriending young boys and taking them to his home or to places like the Dream Inn in Santa Cruz.

One time he even took a student on a Mexican cruise and he often sexually abused students at school – making boys sit on his lap, and inappropriately rubbing and touching them.

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Sexual abuse survivor says, ‘Bob, Lauren and Jancy are a dream team’

Published on: December 25, 2021 | By Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, LLP

The day Allison Brown told police she had been sexually abused by her former basketball coach was life-changing for both her and Greg Marshall: he is now serving a 6-plus year sentence for repeatedly abusing Allison and she is working to recover from his abuse.

Allison was a student-athlete at Valley Christian High School in San Jose when Marshall began abusing her in the early 2000s.

In 2021, Allison hired Cerri, Boskovich & Allard to represent her in a sexual abuse lawsuit against Valley Christian, saying the school should have protected her from Marshall.

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