OT: Bergen Catholic Wrestling under fire:
- Thread starter Abro1975
- Start date
Its going to be interesting to see where this goes. I am cautiously optimistic judging by the strong reaction of the school to the lawsuit, and the clearly overhanded attempts to keep the newspaper from running the story.
Given the fact that this is now going to be very public, someone is going to be in deep shit. Either the people making the accusations, or the accused.
Seems like the student retained a hack personal injury attorney in NJ, he probably brought in the NY attorneys. Its probably a contingency matter. The NY firm seems like a legit litigation firm and the attorneys involved seem to specialize in this type of lawsuit, at least according to their firm bios.
I note the managing partner of the NY firm did not sign the complaint. They may mean something or it may not. Sometimes, where complaints go too far, attorneys won't want to have their name on them, for fear of being tied to an ethical issue or a frivolous lawsuit. I have seen it be a large issue in cases of questionable accusations where attorneys will argue over who is going to sign the complaint. It is not uncommon for younger associates to get roped into signing those complaints. In this case, the only one who signed was the younger attorney.
Given the fact that this is now going to be very public, someone is going to be in deep shit. Either the people making the accusations, or the accused.
Seems like the student retained a hack personal injury attorney in NJ, he probably brought in the NY attorneys. Its probably a contingency matter. The NY firm seems like a legit litigation firm and the attorneys involved seem to specialize in this type of lawsuit, at least according to their firm bios.
I note the managing partner of the NY firm did not sign the complaint. They may mean something or it may not. Sometimes, where complaints go too far, attorneys won't want to have their name on them, for fear of being tied to an ethical issue or a frivolous lawsuit. I have seen it be a large issue in cases of questionable accusations where attorneys will argue over who is going to sign the complaint. It is not uncommon for younger associates to get roped into signing those complaints. In this case, the only one who signed was the younger attorney.
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Thanks for the perspective. All the RU guys from BC have expressed their emphatic support for coach Bell as have several current BC wrestlers. I hope whichever parties are at fault are held fully accountable.
Not sure about the texts and emails and feel that evidence is rather cut and dry. He either has proof or he is fabricating it. Showing things on your phone is very closely assimilated with locker room behavior. The things my coach did and said would now probably get him fired or sued. He did these things in the name of motivation but he crossed the line daily. Still consider him one of my best coaches I've had.
I read the Complaint a couple of times myself and had a similar reaction. I have drafted more than a few in my day, and I am sure I have made mistakes, but this one had some issues which instantly caught my eye.
I have not read it yet. I will take a look at some point when I have a spare minute. Just out of curiosity.
If I remember correctly, you are a law student.
I encourage you, and everyone, to read the actual Complaint. It is linked on NorthJersey.com.
I am and will do so later. In class rn, just saw it on the twitter
I am no where's near an expert on complaints.. But it sounds very, very personal by the way it reads... (like maybe a family member drafted it?)
Usually, complaints have specific factual allegations in each paragraph, limited to one or two allegations per paragraph, in order to get specific denials and/or admissions in the Answers.
This one read more like a story being told and had many paragraphs containing far too much information which seemed designed to get a public reaction. The first 8 pages do not look like an attorney wrote them.
Finally read the complaint. This is not my area, but the only thing that seems like an issue in that complaint is if there was failure to report, which is mandated by law. It sounds like the school knew these people were full of shit, hence the "enough is enough." Only issue is if that knowledge kept them from reporting something they were technically supposed to report. As far as I know, the law is non-discretionary. You have to report any claim to authorities.
Beyond that, all of the claims are unproveable. So it will all come down to witness testimony. He will say the coach watched him undress and showed him naked pictures. The coach will deny it. It will depend on if anyone substantiates his claims. If no one comes forward and says "me too" I don't see how this goes anywhere.
I have to laugh at the inclusion of the head coach said he was "shredded," and said "I love you," both of which probably happened, and which are obviously being taken out of context to support an agenda. The complaint has no teeth if you ask me. I guess they think they can nail this assistant coach (I don't see how) and ruin his life or get the archdiocese to cough up some dough to end it.
Beyond that, all of the claims are unproveable. So it will all come down to witness testimony. He will say the coach watched him undress and showed him naked pictures. The coach will deny it. It will depend on if anyone substantiates his claims. If no one comes forward and says "me too" I don't see how this goes anywhere.
I have to laugh at the inclusion of the head coach said he was "shredded," and said "I love you," both of which probably happened, and which are obviously being taken out of context to support an agenda. The complaint has no teeth if you ask me. I guess they think they can nail this assistant coach (I don't see how) and ruin his life or get the archdiocese to cough up some dough to end it.
This thread is adult talk only...Kiddie games are down the street...
Yeah, I don't see that part going anywhere as pretty much every school requires a coach in the locker room to make sure Sayreville 2.0 doesn't happen...
Thanks for the insight. Will the accuser be made public? If these accusations are false what can happen to the lawyers?
I could be mistaken, but I thought accuser was named in the original article. I dont remember the name. It wasn't all that important to me.
No problem. The minor technically should not be named in the Court papers.
The attorneys can technically be sanctioned and made to pay costs. Realistically, that rarely ever happens.
lawsuit all over Twitter? What happened there? Both side out in full force about the coach pulling a jerry Sandusky?
Since northjersey.com and nj.com don't have anything up yet alluding to what Pyles tweeted, I'm guessing he's getting this info from the defendents lawyers if not the defendents themselves. Pyle's tweets have no links to where he got his info or saying what the source was. Guessing it will come out tomorrow.
Thanks for posting that.
Side story - back in May when the lawsuit story was breaking , Screwy Louie Lazzeri, NJ HS Wrestling historian, and occasional Flo commentator , went on the NJ wrestling Facebook page and vilified the family and the kid for bogus accusations because he lost his starting spot.
Then Flo Wrestling itself took up the same mantra. With stories and on podcasts .
I wasn’t sure what to think about the merits of the case, but I thought it was tasteless and out of line for Screwy Louie , who is very close to the BC program, and Flo , to take such public positions about such sensitive accusations , in public forums.
PS- could it be a misunderstanding when the kid read the texts, sure. But if he was the only kid on the team getting these kind of texts, then that makes it look bad.
Side story - back in May when the lawsuit story was breaking , Screwy Louie Lazzeri, NJ HS Wrestling historian, and occasional Flo commentator , went on the NJ wrestling Facebook page and vilified the family and the kid for bogus accusations because he lost his starting spot.
Then Flo Wrestling itself took up the same mantra. With stories and on podcasts .
I wasn’t sure what to think about the merits of the case, but I thought it was tasteless and out of line for Screwy Louie , who is very close to the BC program, and Flo , to take such public positions about such sensitive accusations , in public forums.
PS- could it be a misunderstanding when the kid read the texts, sure. But if he was the only kid on the team getting these kind of texts, then that makes it look bad.
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Flo outed the kids name while the case was pending. MAJOR violation of jounralistic integrity
At a minimum, those texts were inappropriate and creepy from a coach to a kid. In any sport.
Strong agree. The texts just seem weird. Not criminal. But definitely weird. Unless he is one of those guys that is constantly saying "I love you, man" to everyone, or there was some reason that he was particularly concerned about this kid, its tough to understand. If this was the only texts of that tenor among all his students, it definitely raises an eyebrow.
Yep, seems to me if this kid was the only one receiving such texts it becomes clear what was really going on. If others were receiving similar texts, although creepy no doubt, it diminishes the lawsuit, IMO.
https://www.northjersey.com/story/n...s-sex-counts-bergen-catholic-case/1024568002/
This case has always been about Astarian losing his spot in the lineup....Another defeat as the case keeps falling apart.
This case has always been about Astarian losing his spot in the lineup....Another defeat as the case keeps falling apart.
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