USC, Former Coach Watson Sued over Auto Accident
by Paragon SC on Jul 13, 2009 4:02 PM PDT
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PrintI got a little advance notice on this earlier today.
USC has been named in a lawsuit over former football coach David Watson's car accident last year...
From The LAist...
A personal injury lawsuit has been filed in Los Angeles Superior Court against former USC football assistant Dave Watson, as well as the university and a local auto dealership.
The plaintiff, Alaric Valentin, was a passenger in a vehicle struck by Watson's car on May 17, 2008. Watson was arrested at the time on suspicion of driving under the influence. The suit alleges that he had taken as many as seven Vicodin and several Soma pills. Valentin's attorney believes the damages (ranging from medical bills to pain and suffering) could run more than $500,000 -- far exceeding the insurance coverage on the accident.
In an unusual twist, the lawsuit claims that USC was negligent because the university provided the vehicle to Watson and "was aware of or should have been aware of [his] addiction to prescription pain medications." Valentin further alleges that USC's own doctors knew about Watson's addiction and prescribed him with excessive pain medication.
According to the suit, the car was owned by South Bay Chrysler-Plymouth-Jeep, which loaned the vehicle to the school as part of a booster program. USC says that the dealership loaned the school only one car and is no longer in the program.
That is interesting...
This looks like it is more of a USC problem than it is a USC Football problem.
Well, we will keep an eye on this...
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Smart move by the plaintiff
Not good news for the university, as a whole- however.
I doubt the plaintiff’s lawyers win the case in a courtroom- as it pertains to USC being at fault for negligence. That would seem to be a tough case to fight and win. The investigative side of the plaintiff would have to show proof of a historical pattern of practice, with at least 2 or more cases involving employees who have previously been slapped with negative points on their Ca driving records who were also at fault for DUI/DWI and still- USC let them drive a “company car” – so to speak. Even then, they’d have to show that Coach Watson was a proven prescription drug abuser and/or admitted/diagnosed alcholic. And to that end, would also have to prove USC knew about it and still employed him.
How doesn’t the USC insurance policy cover an “extreme” automobile incident like this? That’s what I wanna know.
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