The Tamalpais Union High School District has agreed to a $17.5 million settlement over allegations of sexual abuse perpetrated by a former tennis coach. According to SFGate, the victims, four men who Normandie Burgos coached at Tamalpais High School in Marin County, have received the settlement as compensation for the abuse, which dates back more than a decade.
Convicted in 2019 on 60 counts of sexual abuse against two other players in Richmond, Normandie Burgos is currently serving a 255-year prison sentence. One of the plaintiffs, Alex Harrison – not his real name – revealed the abuses he endured from 2000 to 2004 while taking private tennis lessons from Burgos, as reported by SFGate. Despite his teammates not believing him when he initially spoke out, Harrison has been awarded $11.5 million, which includes over $1 million in interest after the district's failed appeal of the jury verdict.
One of Burgos’s earliest known victims, referred to as Joe Doe 1, testified about being raped and sodomized multiple times in the 1999 to 2000 school year, described in a statement obtained by KRON4. Shockingly, the same victim recalled an instance where a school administrator observed sexual misconduct but took no action other than to joke about it. He will be receiving $4.5 million from the settlement.
The settlement also includes a collective $1.5 million for two individuals, John Doe 2 and John Doe 3, who accused Burgos of sexually assaulting them during what were supposed to be "body fat tests" in the 2000-2001 school year. According to the law firm representing the victims, Burgos took these students into his office, had them disrobe while on a massage table, and then abused them, "enabled and emboldened" by a lack of oversight, as attorney Robert Allard told SFGate. Each of these two plaintiffs will each receive $750,000.
In response to KRON4's request for a statement, a district spokesperson confirmed that the lawsuit, Marin County Superior Court Case No. CIV2001133 has been settled. The district is responsible for $1.1 million of the settlement amount, which is the self-insured retention amount. They expressed hope for closure for all involved.
