The state Supreme Court has cleared the way for a South Bay teenager to sue the U. S. Youth Soccer Association and its state and local affiliates for failing to stop a coach from molesting her when she was 12. The court denied review Wednesday of a…
The state Supreme Court has cleared the way for a South Bay teenager to sue the U. S. Youth Soccer Association and its state and local affiliates for failing to stop a coach from molesting her when she was 12.
The court denied review Wednesday of a lower-court ruling that reinstated the girl’s suit against the U. S. and California Youth Soccer Associations and the West Valley Youth Soccer League for not conducting a criminal background check on the coach, Emanuele Fabrizio, who had a previous domestic violence conviction. Four votes by the seven-member court were needed to grant a hearing on the organization’s appeal, but only Justice Ming Chin voted for review.
The girl, identified only as Jane Doe, played on two West Valley teams for which Fabrizio was an assistant coach in 2011. After parents complained that he was using harsh verbal and physical discipline toward his players, the league reassigned him to a boys’ team in September 2011, but he told Jane Doe to practice with the boys and arranged to spend time alone with her, according to her lawsuit, as quoted by the Sixth District Court of Appeal in San Jose.
Fabrizio drove her to and from a tournament in Santa Cruz, took her on walks, and ingratiated himself with her parents, visiting them and offering to drive her to games and practices, the court said.
The league suspended him from coaching in November 2011, in part because of “inappropriate touching” of Jane Doe, but never explained the reasons to her parents or interviewed the girl, the court said. He later admitted sexually abusing her from May 2011 to March 2012.
He pleaded no contest in Santa Clara County Superior Court in 2012 to child molesting and continuous sexual abuse of the girl and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
A Santa Clara County Superior Court judge dismissed the girl’s suit against the soccer leagues, ruling that they had no duty to protect her from their coach’s criminal conduct. But the appeals court said the leagues had reason to suspect that their players needed protection from adult coaches and volunteers, and might be found negligent for failing to require background checks.
The court said the U. S. Youth Soccer Association had acknowledged in 1994 that pedophiles were drawn to its program to gain access to children, and developed a program called KidSafe to educate players, parents and coaches about detecting and preventing child abuse. The organization sent pamphlets on KidSafe to its state associations but did not require coaches to undergo training, and the West Valley league never contacted parents about the program, the court said.
The court said the league should have been aware of potential problems after its founder, Thomas Anderson, a longtime soccer coach, pleaded guilty in 2010 to molesting two 11-year-old boys and was sentenced to prison.
“It was reasonably foreseeable to (the leagues) that a child participating in their soccer program would be sexually abused by a coach, ” Justice Nathan Mihara said in a 3-0 ruling in February that reinstated Jane Doe’s suit.
If the West Valley league had conducted background checks, as other soccer leagues did, Mihara said, it would have discovered his 2007 conviction for abuse of his spouse and probably would not have hired him. Mihara said the soccer leagues had a “special relationship” with their players that required reasonable protective measures.
The ruling became final when the state’s high court denied review. Lawyers for the girl and the leagues could not be reached for comment.
The case is Jane Doe vs. U. S. Youth Soccer Association, S241038.
