A San Diego jury on Monday found Coronado Unified School District negligent in the employment of an assistant girls basketball coach who pleaded guilty to having a sexual relationship with one of his players and awarded the former student $5 million in damages.
The civil trial, which concluded testimony and arguments last week, centered around the employment of Jordan Tyler Bucklew, who pleaded guilty in 2020 to a felony count of unlawful sex with a minor. The victim, who was a 17-year-old senior when the criminal conduct occurred, sued the school district and Bucklew in 2021, alleging negligence by the district and sexual battery and assault by Bucklew.
The jury on Monday found the school district negligent in the hiring, supervision and retention of Bucklew, according to the former student’s attorney. The jury also found that 90 percent of the fault rested with the district, as compared to 10 percent with Bucklew — meaning the district is on the hook for $4.5 million in damages awarded to the plaintiff.
“On behalf of myself and my client, we just want to express our gratitude to the jury for holding the school district accountable for its actions, and we hope the school district learns from this incident and protects all of their students in the future,” attorney Brandon Smith told the Union-Tribune on Monday.
Maria Simon, a Coronado Unified spokesperson, said the district is considering its options for a potential appeal.
“Coronado Unified School District values every child in our care. The safety and well-being of students is our top priority,” Simon said in a statement. “CUSD leadership and legal counsel are currently considering post-trial options and as such decline to provide further comment about the verdict at this time.”
Randall Winet, the attorney who represented the district, said he found the verdict “highly unusual” as someone who has been a litigator for 40 years.
“It does not comport with the evidence,” Winet told the Union-Tribune in an email. “The damages are excessive. Providing the perpetrator 10 (percent) of fault and the District 90 (percent) is contrary to the law, evidence and common sense.”
Coronado police arrested Bucklew, who is now 38, in February 2020 on suspicion that he was having a sexual relationship with a student who played on the basketball team. In December of that year, after pleading guilty to the felony charge, a San Diego judge sentenced Bucklew to three years of probation but did not require him to register as a sex offender.
According to filings in the case, Bucklew first worked as a volunteer assistant girls basketball coach at the school from 2013 to 2015, then as a paid assistant for about year. After moving out of state for a short time, Bucklew returned in 2017 to his former role as an assistant. He also worked as a personal trainer and private coach for the some of the players.
According to documents from both the criminal and civil cases, Bucklew engaged in a sexual relationship with one of the high school players who he was also privately coaching for a 55-day period from early December 2019 until January 31, 2020. The relationship came to light when a teacher at the school caught wind of a rumor mentioned by the girl’s teammates.
In a pretrial brief, the district argued the teacher complied with the law by immediately reporting the rumor, and that school faculty took all appropriate steps, such as immediately interviewing the teammates, requesting an interview with the girl and placing Bucklew on leave. The district argued that it had no way of knowing Bucklew would engage in such behavior and that he and the student took steps to cover up their relationship.
“There is no information that the District knew or should have known that Mr. Bucklew posed a risk of improper sexual contact with students,” Winet wrote in the brief. The district also argued that psychiatric testing by a doctor it hired to examine Bucklew’s victim “(did) not support a PTSD diagnosis” and that she appeared to be making “excellent progress” in all aspects of her life, thus negating her argument for such steep damages.
The plaintiff and her attorney argued that Bucklew used his position to groom her, and that others at the school knew, or should have known, that Bucklew was developing the inappropriate relationship with his victim.
“Sadly, the people that the Plaintiff and her parents trusted at CUSD betrayed them, setting in motion a course of events that would change their lives forever,” Smith wrote in the complaint.
Court records showed the plaintiff was unable to serve the lawsuit to Bucklew, who moved out of state, so he was not party to the proceedings. Smith said that if he had been, he would be on the hook for 10 percent of the damages, or $500,000.
