|
Updated December 6th, 2007
Former LCHS Coach Settles For $2.1 Million
By ANAHID YAHJIAN
LCF Outlook
 Former La Cañada High
School basketball coach Pat Gillan settled for a $2.1 million
award Monday via mediating
with the city of San Marino, ending
a six-year case that began
with false accusations of sexual
impropriety with one of his San
Marino High School players.
“It is absolutely finished, and
it’s wonderful,” said Gillan, a
1983 La Cañada High School
graduate who coached Spartan
boys’ and girls’ teams in the
1980s and ’90s.
According to Gillan, it all
started with a police news conference
in December of 2001
when two San Marino officers
announced the charges against
him, resulting in his arrest soon
afterward. After being held in
custody for “a few hours,” he was
released with no formal charges
ever being filed. He was given 55
days of paid leave from the high
school and reinstated in February
of 2002 in order to coach in the
CIF basketball playoffs.
“These charges were
absolutely scurrilous,” John
Burton, Gillan’s attorney, said. “It
was obvious that they came from
a disturbed young lady who made
these claims to justify to her parents
her own failure to play college
basketball.”
Gillan filed his own lawsuit
against the city of San Marino
and the city’s police department
in May of 2002, claiming
defamation, invasion of privacy,
false arrest and false accusation.
There was “absolutely no evidence”
to support reasons for
Gillan’s arrest, according to
Burton.
In January of 2005, a Los
Angeles Superior Court jury
ordered the city of San Marino to
pay Gillan $4.4 million, in addition
to imposing punitive damages
upwards of — according to Gillan
— $20,000 post-interest on the
two San Marino police officers
who had spoken at the initial news
conference. The damages were
paid prior to Monday’s settlement.
A state appellate panel decided
to uphold all charges except for
those of defamation in January of
this year, explaining that “you just
can’t sue police for having a
defamatory press conference,”
according to Burton. As a result,
the award amount needed to be
renegotiated, settling at $2.1 million
shortly after Thanksgiving.
Gillan expressed relief over
the conclusion of the case,
although he claimed to have been
“desensitized after a while...it’s an
ordeal.” He added that he was disappointed
to see that no action was
taken towards the accuser.
“I wish she would have been
criminally charged,” he said. “I
think that’s a huge problem with
our system.”
He has no desire to return to
teaching and will possibly pursue
his degree in broadcast journalism
from Cal State L.A. and become a
sports broadcaster.
 |
