4 defendants dropped from sex assault suit
A Montgomery County judge on Tuesday dismissed four individual defendants from litigation filed by the families of three Maryland teenagers who were sexually assaulted by their football teammates in a Damascus High School locker room in 2018.
Circuit Court Judge Jeannie Eun Kyung Cho also capped at $400,000 any possible damages that could be assigned to the remaining defendant in the lawsuit: the Montgomery County Board of Education, or essentially the school system as a whole.
Attorneys for the victims’ parents indicated during a court hearing Tuesday that they may try to reinstate their claims against the individuals as the lawsuit filed earlier this year proceeds. The attorneys have alleged that for years, officials at the school knew or should have known that junior varsity football players had been assaulted with broomsticks by teammates.
The four individuals dismissed from the lawsuit are Eric Wallich, the school’s former varsity football coach; Vincent Colbert, the former junior varsity coach; Casey Crouse, the former principal; and Joseph Doody, the former athletic director.
Colbert, no longer with the school system, declined to comment Tuesday. The three others could not be reached.
Wallich is a teacher at the school. Crouse is a centraloffice administrator in the system. Doody is no longer with the system.
The original lawsuit, filed Feb. 6, said that there had been broomstick assaults at Damascus High School before four players were attacked on Oct. 31, 2018, and that the JV locker room had become an “unchecked breeding ground for sexual assault.”