Good news indeed

H.S. Coach Awarded $4.5 Million For False Accusation In Sex Case

No Charges Were Ever Filed Against Patrick Gillan

POSTED: 11:49 am PST January 20, 2005UPDATED: 5:28 pm PST January 20, 2005

LOS ANGELES -- A San Marino High School girls' basketball coach publicly identified as a sexual molestation suspect but never charged was awarded a total of nearly $4.5 million Thursday in compensatory damages.

A second phase of the trial to determine if punitive damages will be awarded to Patrick Gillan on top of that gets under way Thursday afternoon.

Gillan sued San Marino, its police department and several officers, who held a news conference to identify him -- and ask any other supposed victims to come forward -- after he was taken into custody in December 2001. His mug shot displayed that day was shown on TV and printed in several newspapers.

No charges were ever filed against the coach, who was put on paid suspension during the investigation and reclaimed his job two months later.

In his lawsuit, filed in May 2002, Gillan alleged defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress arising from false arrest.

In the initial verdict phase, a Los Angeles jury awarded Gillan $1,937,000 for past damages, and $2,516,000 for future loss of earnings -- which totals $4,453,000.

Gillan had asked for $1.2 million to $3.8 million for past damages, and $900,000 to $3.6 million for future damages.

The jury will now decide if Gillan is due punitive damages from the officers involved in calling the news conference.

The officers contend they were just doing their job by investigating a legitimate claim -- made by Taylor Bouchard, who by then was in college.

Bouchard, who graduated from San Marino High in June 2001 and is now 21, testified in the civil trial and still contends she was sexually molested when she was 17.

According to court papers, Gillan was released immediately after being booked by San Marino police, and the paperwork stated only that he had been "detained."

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert O'Brien, who presided over the trial, ruled Thursday that there was no probable cause for the arrest.

The department continued to investigate Bouchard's claims, and in February 2002 the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office decided not to prosecute Gillan.

Bouchard and her mother were named in the Gillan lawsuit, but as part of a settlement deal eventually were dropped as defendants.

Source: http://www.nbc4.tv/education/4112461/detail.html

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Yes,it is good news. I,on the other hand,would not have allowed her mother and/or the accuser to squirm out of it that easily as I would have sued them as well.