Appeals court revives coach's retaliation suit

North County Times 3/17/07

By Teri Figueroa

The legal battle waged by an SDSU strength and conditioning coach ---- who alleged that the university retaliated against him after he complained about the then-football coach ---- will go back to the trial judge who sided with the school two years ago, a state appellate court ruled Friday.

A panel of three justices with the Fourth District Court of Appeals sent the case back to the trial court to give Dave Ohton a chance to win a ruling as to whether the university appropriately conducted the investigation into his retaliation claims.

In his suit, filed three years ago, Ohton claimed officials removed him from his duties with the football team as payback for providing damaging information about the program and then-coach Tom Craft.

Ohton authored a 103-page report that became a key part of a California State University's Chancellor's Office investigation into the athletic department.

At the school's request two years ago, the trial judge dismissed Ohton's case, finding that the school met its responsibilities when it investigated Ohton's retaliation claims after he sought protection under the California Whistleblower Protection Act. Ohton filed an appeal.

With the appellate court ruling in Ohton's favor, Ohton's attorney said they will now ask the trial court to find that the university's investigation was in bad faith.

"This case is not over. It's far from over and we are going to aggressively pursue it," Ohton's attorney Dennis Schoville said.

The university "remains confident that its determinations were well-founded and will withstand review," Eric M. Volkert, an attorney with the firm representing the university, wrote in an e-mail response to a request for comment.