This new case expands on allegations raised in a 2022 lawsuit involving the same coaches and similar misconduct dating back more than two decades. The current filing introduces additional firsthand accounts, including new claims that:

• Coach Nakamura shared sexual fantasies with players, entered their hotel rooms wearing only a towel, and regularly showered with the door open.
• Coach Giarratano physically assaulted players, including punching one in the chest and throwing another to the ground.
• Four of the five plaintiffs left the university early due to the alleged abuse.

The lawsuit, which follows our firm’s earlier suit against the University, further alleges that USF failed to investigate reports of misconduct dating back to 2000 and continued to employ the coaches despite repeated warnings.

Read the full article on the San Francisco Chronicle’s website.

Lakeville, Connecticut – A class-action lawsuit was filed today against The Hotchkiss School, a private boarding and day school located in Lakeville, Connecticut, alleging a deeply troubling history of gross negligence in child protection and a culture that allowed sexual abuse to thrive on its campus.

The complaint, filed by Plaintiff Mark Moe and on behalf of other male Hotchkiss students who were exposed to the increased risk of sexual violence posed by Roy G. Smith, Jr., a former teacher and athletic trainer at the school, reveals a shocking and distressing pattern of abuse that spans three decades. The lawsuit asserts that Hotchkiss not only failed to protect its students from these abuses but also actively protected and enabled the abuser.

The case asks the Court to certify a class of all male Hotchkiss students who were student-athletes on a Hotchkiss sports team for which Roy Smith served as an athletic trainer, and/or who visited Roy Smith’s on-campus apartment for “tutoring.” If successful, other Smith survivors could come forward to seek damages against Hotchkiss and rely on the Court’s determination that Hotchkiss is liable for their injuries.

The allegations against Hotchkiss include rampant sexual abuse of students by faculty members, Hotchkiss’s knowledge of Smith’s clear and consistent patterns of abusive behavior, Smith’s inappropriate touching of students’ genitals and sexual abuse under the guise of tutoring, Hotchkiss’s failure to intervene for 30 years while providing Smith with access to thousands of students, the expulsion of a student who reported Smith’s abuse instead of disciplining Smith, and a lack of policies and procedures for the prevention of and response to sexual abuse.

In 2018, Hotchkiss commissioned a report that revealed a shocking amount of serial sexual abuse by faculty against students. The Locke Lord Report, as it is known, detailed abuse by many faculty members during the same decades in which Roy Smith was abusing children at Hotchkiss. It revealed a culture where predatory teachers were accepted and protected, while student reports were suppressed.

“Instead of ensuring a safe and secure community, Hotchkiss betrayed the trust of its students and exposed them to a dangerous environment for young people. Students should have been able to focus on their education without fear of sexual abuse from their teachers,” said Lieff Cabraser partner Annika K. Martin, who is head of the firm’s Survivor Advocacy Practice Group and who represents the survivors. “This lawsuit will open the door for other Smith survivors to more easily come forward and hold the school accountable for knowingly putting them in harm’s way.” Martin has successfully represented other survivors who have brought individual claims against The Hotchkiss School.

“This complaint goes beyond my individual experience. It sheds light on a systemic issue at Hotchkiss and decades of abuse hidden by the school,” said Plaintiff Mark Moe, which is a pseudonym. “By filing this case, I aim to bring justice to survivors of abuse at Hotchkiss pave the way for others to come forward and more easily hold the school accountable for the abuse it allowed to happen to them.”

“Survivors deserve to have their voices heard and for the school to admit they failed their students for decades,” said Hugh Cuthbertson and Glenn Duhl at Zangari Cohn Cuthbertson Duhl & Grello in New Haven. “This case is an important step to achieve this outcome that these students so greatly deserve.”

HILLSDALE, MI–Two women filed a class action lawsuit against Hillsdale College accusing it of failing to adequately investigate their reports of sexual assault and violating their rights under Title IX and Michigan state law. The complaint also alleges that Hillsdale College subjected the survivors to a series of distressing and damaging experiences after they reported incidents of sexual assault on campus.

The plaintiffs, Grace Chen and Danielle Villarreal, have come forward to demand justice and accountability from the College. Filed in the Western District of Michigan, the complaint highlights several disturbing and inadequate aspects of the college’s response to sexual assault allegations on its campus. Specifically, Hillsdale College’s existing “sexual misconduct policy” is criticized for its lack of emphasis on consent, excessive discretion afforded to college Deans in investigations and punishments, and a failure to guarantee confidentiality for reporting students.

In 2021, both women allege they were sexually assaulted by fellow students when enrolled at Hillsdale College. However, when both women reported these incidents to Hillsdale College officials, the College did not provide any support services or safety accommodations, nor did it furnish any formal, written documentation of its investigation—despite numerous requests from the women and their families. Furthermore, Hillsdale College did not take any meaningful disciplinary action against the assailants, whom both women would see regularly on campus and at school events.

“This class action isn’t solely about Hillsdale College mishandling my report of sexual assault on campus; it’s also about the school’s overall approach to addressing such reports from any student,” said Grace Chen, a junior at Hillsdale College. “My goal in filing this complaint is to prevent others attending Hillsdale from enduring the same painful experience I did.”

“I want to emphasize that our collective complaint goes beyond our individual experiences. It sheds light on a systemic issue at Hillsdale College concerning how sexual assault reports are handled,” said Danielle Villarreal, who left Hillsdale College and is now a junior at Vanderbilt University. “By filing this case, we aim to bring about meaningful change that ensures the safety and well-being of all students at the College.”

Hillsdale College, founded in 1844 and in Hillsdale, Michigan, describes itself as a “nonsectarian Christian institution” that “maintains ‘by precept and example’ the immemorial teachings and practices of the Christian faith.” All dormitories are sex-segregated and the Regulations for Proper Student Contact speak in terms of the school’s “high moral standards.” Hillsdale College has claimed that it is not bound by Title IX due to its non-acceptance of federal educational funds—a position challenged by the survivors. They argue that the college’s nonprofit status and accompanying tax exemption, among other benefits, require the school to follow Title IX.

“Even beyond the requirements of Title IX, Hillsdale College’s response to allegations of sexual assault on its campus is not just inadequate; it is deeply concerning and re-traumatizing for survivors,” said Annika K. Martin, who is representing the survivors, and is a partner at Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein and head of the firm’s Survivor Advocacy Practice Group. “We believe the College must adhere to federal and state law to better protect its student body, and we are immensely proud to represent these two brave women in their quest for justice and accountability.” Martin has previously litigated sexual assault cases on behalf of survivors against institutions such as the University of Michigan and the University of Southern California.

Read the full article about the case in USA today.

Learn more about the Hillsdale College survivors lawsuit.

About Annika K. Martin

A partner in Lieff Cabraser’s New York office, Annika K. Martin served as co-lead counsel for plaintiff abuse victims in the USC student sexual abuse lawsuit that led to a $215 million settlement with USC and Dr. Tyndall and significant institutional changes. She is currently representing men who were sexually abused as students by University of Michigan physician Robert Anderson.

Annika also represents plaintiffs in class action and mass tort litigation concerning consumer fraud, environmental issues, and products liability. She served as co-lead counsel for plaintiffs in the successful national consumer fraud class action brought against General Motors Company over allegedly defective air conditioning systems, and has a similar role in the more recent similar product defect case against Mercedes over their allegedly defective vehicle HVAC systems.

Annika represented individuals, property owners, and business owners across the Gulf Coast in class action litigation against BP, Transocean, Halliburton, and other companies responsible for the 2010 blowout on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig which resulted in the worst oil spill in U.S. history. Annika was deeply involved in negotiating, implementing, and gaining court approval for the economic and medical class action settlements with BP that are compensating hundreds of thousands of victims of the tragedy.

Annika has also represented plaintiffs with physical and economic injuries arising from GM vehicles with defective ignition switches, and patients nationwide suffering from the widespread outbreak of meningitis and other serious maladies caused by contaminated medication. Annika is the current co-chair of AAJ’s Class Action Litigation Group.

A compelling New York Times op-ed written by contributing Op-Ed writer Maia Szalavitz brings needed attention to the increasing efforts to address the murky and dangerous practices rife within the “troubled-teen” industry. Notable public figures like Paris Hilton have recently worked to amplify this cause, disclosing personal horrors endured in establishments meant to improve teenage behavioral issues.

Despite attempting to mirror reputable psychiatric centers, these establishments often bypass regulation resulting in reduced or even perilous so-called care. Legal loopholes permit faith-based programs to evade standard protocols set for child care facilities. Alarmingly, practices such as corporal punishment — outlawed even in prisons — find a place in such facilities due to lax regulations across numerous states. The lack of comprehensive government data on these facilities further conceals the true extent of youth harmfully affected.

Buoyed by the advocacy of Hilton and others, a bipartisan group introduced the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act (S.I.C.A.A.) this year, rallying support from 50 co-sponsors. This legislation, seeking to illuminate the shady teen care industry, embarks on a multi-agency investigation to expose the breadth of abuses in youth residential facilities, and advocates for a transition towards safer, evidence-driven outpatient services.

Lieff Cabraser is actively investigating similar allegations of abuse of patients and residents at Acadia Healthcare facilities, the largest stand-alone behavioral health services provider in the U.S. Additionally, we represent six individuals and a putative class of thousands of other children across the U.S. in a federal class action sexual abuse lawsuit in Pennsylvania against Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health Facilities over allegations of the rape and sexual abuse of inpatient clients, as well as abuses committed by fellow inpatients, horrific acts that were ignored and/or suppressed by Devereux staff and management. Some patients who raised such allegations claim they were not only disregarded, but punished for initiating complaints, including the withholding of food, physical restraint, isolation, and even physical abuse.

Learn more about the Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health Staff Sexual Abuses Class Action Lawsuit and the Acadia Healthcare Abuse Investigation.

Sexual Abuse Lawyers at Lieff Cabraser

Lieff Cabraser’s sexual abuse survivor advocacy team represents survivors across the U.S. who have been victimized by sexual violence and sexual abuse. We treat every client with care, respect, and compassion as we bring our comprehensive legal skills forward on each case. We have a dedicated team of lawyers, nurse consultants, and paralegals experienced in working with and listening to survivors who work individually with every client in every case to see that justice is won.

National plaintiffs law firm Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP and Washington, D.C. firm Nigh Goldenberg Raso & Vaughn have filed a federal personal injury lawsuit on behalf of Doe Plaintiff “M.F.A.” against Uber Technologies and related entities alleging harassment, physical attack, sexual assault, and battery committed by a vetted Uber driver in June of 2023. The lawsuit further includes claims that Uber misled plaintiff and the public into believing it provided safe rides and that it was addressing safety issues, including sexual assault, in violation of the company’s statutory and common law duties.

Case lawyers noted “The plaintiff in this injury lawsuit trusted Uber and its highly-publicized safety protections for a simple two-stop ride. That trust was betrayed in a shocking and profound violation of trust and her personal safety and well-being. Uber needs to be held accountable for the actions of its driver and its failures and violations of relevant law.”

As the Complaint details, Uber promises a safe ride and claims its platform was built with “safety in mind,” but the company has consistently chosen growth over safety. It has known since at least 2014 that its platform had become a conduit for sexual abuse, but refused to take steps necessary to protect those who trust the company with their lives and livelihoods.

Indeed, reports show that thousands of Uber passengers are sexually assaulted each year. The company itself disclosed that it had received approximately 6,000 reports of sexual assault and 464 allegations of rape in its rides between 2017 and 2018 alone. In June 2022, Uber disclosed 3,824 reports of the five most severe categories of sexual assault in 2019 and 2020, ranging from “non-consensual kissing of a non-sexual body part” to “non-consensual sexual penetration,” also known as rape. While Uber tried to tout the seeming drop in reports, these numbers obscure a much higher rate of sexual abuse in Uber rides, as 2020 ridership plummeted during the COVID-era shelter-in-place orders. Further, sexual abuse in Uber rides are notoriously under-reported, and experts estimate that approximately 18,000 passengers and drivers are sexually abused each year during a rideshare ride in the U.S.

As noted in the Complaint, Uber, including at the direction and control of founder Travis Kalanick, “intentionally performed the act of hiring its drivers without interviewing them, without fingerprinting them, without running them through the FBI databases, and using fast and shallow background checks.” In taking these actions, Kalanick and Uber knew or should have known that it was highly probable that harm would result; their “quick-and-dirty” approach represented a deliberate choice to gamble with passenger health and safety.

The Complaint also observes that “Uber’s greed and complete disregard for rider safety or the rule of law is breathtaking. Uber’s policy is that it will not report any criminal activity it learns of to law-enforcement authorities. That includes allegations of sexual assault.” Uber has a longstanding policy that it will not report any criminal activity – even assaults and rape – to law-enforcement authorities.

Worse, Uber will not cooperate with law enforcement without a subpoena, but alerts its drivers about any investigations, allowing perpetrators time to flee and evade arrest. Further, Uber continues to give offending drivers multiple “strikes” when it receives reports of abuse by drivers, which keeps predators at the wheel even after serious passenger complaints. And as if all that weren’t enough, Uber has also lagged behind in implementing best practices regarding video cameras and driver selection, which can offer additional protection to passengers and drivers.

Recognizing that sexual abuse was a serious and pervasive problem with its platform, Uber implemented “Safe Ride Fees” in 2014—but never used that money to actually make its passengers safer, and did not train drivers on issues of sexual assault and harassment. Instead, Uber has continued to make it easier for drivers to quickly get on the road—allowing drivers to start after a 15-minute application process.

“After nearly 15 years of negligence and the facilitation of sexual and other assault against adults, Uber continues to market its services toward women and teens, advertising that its rides are safe and a better alternative to driving under the influence,” notes Nigh Goldenberg Raso & Vaughn partner Marlene Goldenberg, who also represents the plaintiff in the suit. “Uber loves to stress its so-called ‘safety features,’ but those features do not include comprehensive background checks, feasible modifications to its app and cars, or meaningful and responsive action on sexual assault complaints.”

The lawsuit seeks past and future economic and non-economic damages including for pain, mental anguish, anxiety, medical expenses, lost earnings and lost earning capacity as well as punitive damages and equitable and injunctive relief as the Court may deem just and proper.

Paris Hilton, a vocal advocate for change in the TTI, recently visited Washington, D.C., to push for federal laws that would protect children and teens in similar situations. Hilton’s activism, along with Unsilenced’s efforts, help to shed light on the need for transparency and accountability in this disturbing flawed and insufficiently regulated industry.

Unsilenced (and indeed, Lieff Cabraser and all other firms and organizations working to end teen abuse) envisions a world where young people are free from forced institutionalization, and where their voices are respected and included in shaping efforts to maximize their mental, emotional, and physical well-being. Unsilenced’s core values of social innovation, inclusivity, diversity, transparency, and teamwork guide its efforts in empowering advocates to bring about lasting social change for all of our country’s troubled and misunderstood teens.

Instead of resorting to the largely unregulated Troubled Teen Industry, Unsilenced promotes constructive alternatives that prioritize keeping young people with their families and communities. They believe in fostering better health outcomes for youth without resorting to harmful, remote, depersonalized, and neglectful and even abusive institutionalization.

Nonprofit Unsilenced’s initiatives include increasing education, awareness, community support, and policy changes to protect the civil, social, and human rights of youth. By embracing a positive and rewarding culture, Unsilenced connects with its mission in a wide range of meaningful and compassionate ways, deepening its impact on one of the highest-risk communities in the U.S.

Learn more about Unsilenced and its mission to protect youth from the Troubled Teen Industry.

MTMP conferences are designed for individuals working in the area of plaintiff mass torts and personal injury litigation. The biannual Las Vegas conferences are the largest gatherings of plaintiff mass tort attorneys in the world, with over 1,900 participants from 500+ law firms at each event.

Other Mass Torts Made Perfect conference panel topics for Spring 2023 include: “Be Careful What You Wish For: The Rise of Mass Arbitration,” “Legal, Ethical, and Practical Considerations in Consolidating a Class Action Within a Mass Tort MDL,” “Standing: How is Transunion Metastasizing Through the Class Action World?” “Cross Border Litigation Europe,” among others.

View the full Spring 2023 MTMP Conference agenda on the event website.

About Annika K. Martin

A partner in Lieff Cabraser’s New York office, Annika K. Martin served as co-lead counsel for plaintiff abuse victims in the USC student sexual abuse lawsuit that led to a $215 million settlement with USC and Dr. Tyndall and significant institutional changes. She is currently representing men who were sexually abused as students by University of Michigan physician Robert Anderson.

Annika also represents plaintiffs in class action and mass tort litigation concerning consumer fraud, environmental issues, and products liability. She served as co-lead counsel for plaintiffs in the successful national consumer fraud class action brought against General Motors Company over allegedly defective air conditioning systems, and has a similar role in the more recent similar product defect case against Mercedes over their allegedly defective vehicle HVAC systems.

Annika represented individuals, property owners, and business owners across the Gulf Coast in class action litigation against BP, Transocean, Halliburton, and other companies responsible for the 2010 blowout on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig which resulted in the worst oil spill in U.S. history. Annika was deeply involved in negotiating, implementing, and gaining court approval for the economic and medical class action settlements with BP that are compensating hundreds of thousands of victims of the tragedy.

Annika has also represented plaintiffs with physical and economic injuries arising from GM vehicles with defective ignition switches, and patients nationwide suffering from the widespread outbreak of meningitis and other serious maladies caused by contaminated medication. Annika is the current co-chair of AAJ’s Class Action Litigation Group.

The Pennsylvania case seeks both damages for the individually named plaintiffs and injunctive relief to protect the putative class of Deveraux patients over allegations that they are “subjected to the unnecessary (and foreseeable) risk of physical, emotional, and sexual assault caused by Devereux’s failure to have and/or enforce proper policies and procedures for the prevention of, and proper response to, such abuse.” The case is proceeding through discovery and on to trial.

Noting that defendants’ protestations about privacy concerns were a non-issue, Lieff Cabraser partner Annika K. Martin, who represents the plaintiffs in the litigation, stated, “We’re just interested in incidents of prior abuse that have occurred and specifically how Deverux has handled them, if it has handled them at all. What were their practices and policies to prevent such abuse, if such policies existed? And what are they doing to prevent the abuse of children in the future? This information is critical to getting our clients the justice — and the relief — they are seeking.”

Martin added that plaintiffs’ attorneys are focused on drilling down specific policy changes that need to be made by Devereux to stop future abuse from happening.

About Annika K. Martin

A partner in Lieff Cabraser’s New York office and the Chair of the firm’s Survivor’s Rights practice group, Annika K. Martin served as co-lead counsel for plaintiff abuse victims in the USC student sexual abuse lawsuit that led to a $215 million settlement with USC and Dr. Tyndall and significant institutional changes. She is currently representing men who were sexually abused as students by University of Michigan physician Robert Anderson as well as children who allege they were abused while in the care of Devereux Foundation.

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.