LAWSUIT
Dec 1, 2007 - Associated Press version:
A former girls' basketball coach wrongly accused of sexual assault has settled with the city of San Marino for $2.1 million.From the San Gabriel Valley Tribune:
Patrick Gillan sued the city of San Marino and several of its police offers nearly six years ago for defamation, invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotion distress and malicious prosecution, court documents say.
In 2001 a police officer suggested at a news conference that Gillan might have molested several girls. Gillan was arrested but released an hour later and never charged. He was reinstated in 2002 but eventually resigned.
In 2005, the jury awarded him $4.4 million in 2005. The city appealed the ruling and both sides agreed to settle.
A judge with the U.S. Court of Appeals' 9th Circuit reversed the jury's verdict early this year, asking for a new trial based solely on Gillan's claim of false arrest, said San Marino City Attorney Scott Grossberg.
"The Court of Appeals said errors were made, that the verdict was excessive," Grossberg said. "It asked for a new trial, strictly based on the false arrest" claim.
Rather than go through another three-month trial as they did two years ago, both parties decided to settle; Gillan will now receive $2.1 million.
