Saying any forced used was reasonable, the Dodgers are denying the claims of a same-sex couple who sued the team alleging one woman was assaulted and battered without provocation by a Dodger Stadium security guard while her partner suffered emotional distress as a witness.
Kimberly Ilas and her spouse, Karen Lee Hanselman, brought the amended suit in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging assault, battery, false imprisonment, civil rights violations, negligent hiring, retention and supervision, intentional infliction of emotional distress and loss of consortium.
In court papers filed Friday with Judge Peter Hernandez, an attorney for the reigning World Series champions denied the couple’s allegations and cited multiple defenses, including assumption of the risk, that any force used by security was reasonable under the circumstances and that it was asserted in self defense.
The plaintiffs also “voluntarily and knowingly exposed themselves to a known danger and thereby assumed the risk of any injury resulting from said danger,” according to the pleadings, which also contend that the claims violate the statute of limitations.
Ilas and Hanselman went to a game between the Dodgers and San Francisco Giants on June 13. They were walking to view a special light show the Dodgers planned to stage on the field after the game when they took a shortcut because of the size of the crowd, the suit states.
While the couple was passing through a gap of people, a security guard told the plaintiffs to “go up,” confusing Ilas as to why, but she complied anyway, the suit states. However, without warning, the guard “attacked, tackled and pinned plaintiff Kimberly, causing her to sustain serious bodily injuries,” the suit alleges.
Hanselman, as Ilas’ spouse, “watched in horror as her partner was brutally attacked,” leaving Hanselman with “severe emotional distress” for which she has obtained medical and psychological treatment, the suit alleges.
Ilas and Hanselman believe the alleged actions of the guard violated the rules of the Dodgers security and guest services manual, the suit filed July 24 states.