No Pseudonym for Ex-Pro-Basketball-Player Sexual Assault Defendant
From Judge John Kralik’s decision in Dylan v. Doe (Cal. Super. Ct. L.A. County Aug. 2, 2024); the private school has identified itself as Campbell Hall, a prominent L.A. school, though the ex-player’s name has not yet been noted in a court filing:
Plaintiff Haylsey Dylan f/k/a Hayley Mendell (“Plaintiff”) alleges that in the summer of 1987, she was 15 years old and was attending summer school at Defendant Private School Doe when she was sexually assaulted by an adult male, Defendant John Doe (alluded to as a “Former Professional Athlete”), in a locked janitor’s closet in the high school gymnasium. Plaintiff alleges that the Los Angeles Lakers were filming an instructional basketball video in Private School Doe’s gym and that students and faculty were allowed to meet and interact with the players during breaks in the filming.
Plaintiff alleges that during one of the breaks, the production staff began ushering out the students, faculty, and parents to resume filming, but John Doe pointed toward her and said to the production staff, “She can stay.” Plaintiff alleges that Private School Doe faculty members and staff were present in the gym that day, saw John Doe single Plaintiff out to remain with him, left her unattended, and did not provide any safeguards.
Plaintiff alleges that she took photographs with John Doe, he invited her to eat lunch with him, and he asked her for a school tour. Plaintiff alleges that during the tour, he took her to a janitor’s closet and sexually assaulted her….
There has never been a basis, consistent with the constitutional right of the public to open proceedings, to conceal the names of the parties in this case. There is a general constitutional right of access by the public to all court proceedings….
In general, “[t]he names of all parties to a civil action must be included in the complaint. That requirement extends to real parties in interest—anyone with a substantial interest in the subject matter of the action.”
To be consistent with the constitution, anonymity for parties must be demonstrated to be necessary to protect an important privacy interest. The Court of Appeal stated in the DFEH case:
[An] important constitutional right is implicated when a party is allowed to proceed anonymously: the right of public access to court proceedings. Among the guarantees of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution is that court proceedings are open and public. Public access to court proceedings is essential to a functioning democracy. It promotes trust in the integrity of the court system, and it exposes abuses of judicial power to public scrutiny. The right of public access applies not only to criminal cases, but also to civil proceedings like this one. And the right to access court proceedings necessarily includes the right to know the identity of the parties.
The Court further stated:
Much like closing the courtroom or sealing a court record, allowing a party to litigate anonymously impacts the First Amendment public access right. Before a party to a civil action can be permitted to use a pseudonym, the trial court must conduct a hearing and apply the overriding interest test: A party’s request for anonymity should be granted only if t
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