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SIMI VALLEY : School Board Rejects $1-Million Claim

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The Simi Valley school board has rejected a $1-million claim by a former Simi Valley High School student who alleged that his basketball coach caused him physical and emotional damage by grabbing him during a Jan. 14 game.

Eighteen-year-old Samuel Rodriguez’s administrative claim accused varsity basketball coach Dean Bradshaw of squeezing his neck, shoulder and arm and then throwing him down on a bench after the guard was given a technical foul during a game against Westlake High School.

School officials suspended Bradshaw for the final nine games of the season over the incident.

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Simi Valley school board members rejected Rodriguez’s claim during their meeting Tuesday night, a standard procedure for all administrative claims, Supt. E. Leon Mattingley said.

Expecting that the claim would be rejected, the Rodriguez family now intends to file a lawsuit, said Daniel R. Gonzalez, Rodriguez’s attorney.

“They’ve got six months in which to file a lawsuit against the district and the coach and that’s what they are looking at doing,” Gonzalez said.

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The law requires plaintiffs to file administrative claims before a lawsuit can be filed in Ventura County Superior Court.

Rodriguez, a senior at the time of the incident, graduated this spring.

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