Former Los Altos baseball player sues coach after being benched, claims bullying

[edjr 5,539]

http://www.sgvtribune.com/general-news/20170814/former-los-altos-baseball-player-sues-coach-after-being-benched-claims-bullying

 

 

 

A former Los Altos High School student and baseball player is suing the school district and his former coach for hundreds of thousands of dollars because the coach repeatedly benched him.

According to the suit, the school’s head varsity baseball coach, Gabriel Lopez, repeatedly refused to let 17-year-old Robbie Lopez, no relation, play throughout his senior year. The suit claims this constituted a pattern of “harassment and bullying.”

The teenager and his parents are seeking $150,000 or more, according to the suit.

Hacienda La Puente Unified athletic director Andrew Formano and assistant superintendent of human resources Jill Rojas both said they could not comment on the matter. Gabriel Lopez did not respond to a request for comment.

Among the incidents the suit singles out is the annual alumni game, in which the varsity team plays against former Los Altos players. It states that “the game is supposed to be a fun day; especially for seniors on the team” and that “every senior on the team played except for” Robbie Lopez.

The boy’s father, Robert Lopez II, believed the coach’s decision to bench his son throughout the season was because he complained to the district’s athletic director after a disagreement over a fundraising game.

Lopez spoke to the school after the coach did not allow players to practice who had not participated in a fundraising event. It is illegal in California to require students to fundraise to participate in public school activities.

The lawsuit also claimed the teenager had been a starter for three years prior to coach Lopez being hired.

“For over four (4) months and 14 games, (Robbie Lopez) has been benched and not the opportunity to show his offensive or defensive capabilities,” the suit states.

Michael Ponce, the lawyer representing Robbie Lopez and his parents, said the prolonged period of relegating him to the bench is “an abuse of the coach’s discretion.”

“It’s more of a targeted situation” than a standard case of a coach using his own judgement, Ponce said. “These are repeated actions by the coach, which we feel, my client and I, as well as his father, feel are intentional. They’re targeted against (my client) specifically.”

Ponce referred to a recent case in South Carolina in which a cheerleader claimed she was bullied by her coach, who made “derogatory comments about (the student’s) private body parts, causing other students to laugh at” her. The student and her father won a $100,000 judgment.

Ponce claimed what happened to his client was “more egregious” than the South Carolina example. But in a phone interview, Ponce did not give any examples of derogatory comments the coach made to the teenager. And no examples of insulting comments by the coach were presented in the lawsuit.

 

 

 

Definition of a snowflake

[Hardcore troubadour 12,552]

http://www.sgvtribune.com/general-news/20170814/former-los-altos-baseball-player-sues-coach-after-being-benched-claims-bullying

 

 

 

 

Definition of a snowflake

Maybe not. How do you go from starting for 3 years to not playing at all? Some coaches are diks

[edjr 5,539]

Maybe not. How do you go from starting for 3 years to not playing at all? Some coaches are diks

 

Ask Weeble Sandoval

[Gladiators 1,900]

Was he starting on varsity as a freshman, or was he on the freshman team?

 

Either way, $150,000+ for what? Lost scholarships? If he was good enough to earn a scholarship, things wouldn't have gone down like this. Stupid lawsuit. Stupid attorney for taking the case. Fock them all.

[Filthy Fernadez 2,696]

Sandusky would have handled this differently.

[tubby_mcgee 685]

That's the way his affiliation roll. Are you really surprised?

[Drizzay 643]

 

Ponce referred to a recent case in South Carolina in which a cheerleader claimed she was bullied by her coach, who made “derogatory comments about (the student’s) private body parts, causing other students to laugh at” her. The student and her father won a $100,000 judgment.

Ponce claimed what happened to his client was “more egregious” than the South Carolina example. But in a phone interview, Ponce did not give any examples of derogatory comments the coach made to the teenager. And no examples of insulting comments by the coach were presented in the lawsuit.

 

 

 

 

[vuduchile 1,940]

This kinda stuff has been going on forever.

 

The reasons vary, and some coaches really do play favorites and hold grudges, but such is life.

 

Kids need to figure out how to work it out or rise above. And parents need to stay out of it completely.

 

It's a bullshit lawsuit, but it could win and it won't be the last of it's kind. This is where we are now.