Though the dozen male alumni from Poly Prep Country Day School settled their federal suit against the school 8 months ago regarding the longstanding coach there, and the sexual abuse he wrought, and this settlement was to speed up proceedings as the three-year litigation “Was extraordinarily emotionally grueling and my guys needed to move on with their lives,” as their lawyer said, they have decided, nevertheless, to open up another suit, this one against Poly Prep’s lawyers, O’Melveny & Myer.
If the dozen plaintiffs were so eager to end the legislation and get on with their lives, then why are they suing again? Their lawyer, Poly Prep alumni Kevin Mulhearn, explains that “we feel strongly that the conduct of the attorneys in this case was so beyond the pale improper that it would be a miscarriage of justice to let them get away with their conduct,” as AM Law reported.
The case centers around now deceased coach Philip Folietta, who passed in 1998. The dispute now regards the research O’Melveny performed for the school, to discover if the school was aware of Foglietta’s misdeeds prior to 1991, when a letter was sent from a former student that detailed allegations of abuse.
It turns out not only did O’Melveny apparently discover that the school did know of the abuse prior to that, but that O’Melveny was requested to end their investigation prematurely. They also lost the notes of the attorney, Peter Sheridan, who was working on the case in 2002. This is why Mulhearn accusing O’Melveny’s lawyers of “rampant, endemic, unabated, false, fraudulent, and deceptive misconduct.”
O’Melveny, for their part, are saying that the new claims are “completely baseless and without merit,” which seems to be the thing to say in such a situation, irrespective of their actual merits. 11 of the 12 students involved in the original suits are joining Mulhearn in this latest suit.