A year and a half after the head coach’s time at UCLA came to an end, Jim Mora and his former employer remain intertwined.
The Los Angeles Times has confirmed that three former Bruins football players have filed lawsuits seeking in excess $15 million each in damages. Mora and the university, along with offensive line coach Adrian Klemm and associate trainer Anthony Venute, have been named as defendants in the suits.
All three players involved as plaintiffs in the cases are former Bruins offensive linemen -- Zach Bateman, John Lopez and Poasi Moala.
It’s alleged in the lawsuits that Lopez and Moala “suffered traumatic head injuries and continue to experience symptoms linked to chronic traumatic encephalopathy.” Lopez has alleged that he “attempted suicide in the fall of 2016 by overdosing on a combination of over-the-counter and prescription medications.”
It’s further alleged in Bateman’s suit that “severe injuries to both of his feet... occurred and worsened because of negligent conduct” on the part of the UCLA football program.
From the Times’ report:Moala’s lawsuit says he suffered multiple concussions as well as severe injuries to his hips that required two surgeries by the end of his college career in 2017. The lawsuit claims that Moala’s injuries might have been avoided if his coaches had taken his complaints of injury seriously rather than regularly ignoring or minimizing his complaints and ridiculing him in front of his teammates.
Lopez’s lawsuit alleges that he was rushed back to play without proper protocol procedures being followed after suffering concussions during training camp in San Bernardino in 2013 and 2014. During the 2013 practice sessions, Lopez allegedly participated in drills that “required that John take repeated hits to his head” and was one of seven players sidelined one day with concussion-like symptoms.
The lawsuit also states that the lineman was ridiculed for being injured after the first concussion, claiming that Klemm devised a drill in which Lopez’s teammates were encouraged to “[expletive] him up!” Klemm allegedly “made it a priority to shame John by unfairly reprimanding, chastising, disciplining and cursing out” the player.
As part of a culture of “no excuses” cultivated by Mora, the lawsuit alleges, Lopez was subjected to drills that were described as “unnecessarily brutal,” requiring players to practice at full speed with no safeguards against helmet-to-helmet contact. Players were also expected to play through pain, according to the lawsuit.
Mora was the head football coach at UCLA from 2012-17.In response to the filings of the lawsuits, UCLA issued the following statement:
While we cannot comment on the specific details of a pending lawsuit, we want to make it clear that the health and safety of our student-athletes is UCLA’s top priority.”
We strongly deny and will defend ourselves against the allegations made in the lawsuit. We handle every injury with the highest standard of care, and take potential head injuries very seriously. As one of the world’s leading research institutions, and a partner in the largest-ever concussion research study conducted by the U.S. Department of Defense and NCAA, we believe our concussion protocol is among the strongest in the country.”
Our team physicians and sports medicine staff work hand-in-hand on diagnosis, monitoring and treatment, and they are the only individuals who determine when a student-athlete is cleared to participate in their sport; coaches are not involved in these decisions.
