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The Pleasanton Unified School District is facing a lawsuit from a former Foothill High School pole vaulter and his father stemming from the serious spinal injury the teenager suffered at practice last academic year.
Aman Deshmukh, who was paralyzed upon landing a vault attempt at Foothill on March 6, has been navigating his new physical and emotional reality amid months of medical treatment, according to updates on his journey online. Now, the family is looking to hold PUSD accountable financially for the boy’s life-altering injury.
Lodged on the now-16-year-old’s behalf by his father, Subodh Deshmukh, the lawsuit alleges negligence, recklessness, violation of special relationship and dangerous condition of public property for the circumstances at Foothill that fateful day.
“High school youth pole vaulting requires specific and supervised instructional conduct by coaches to mitigate the danger of catastrophic injury to the participants,” the lawsuit states. But the actions of PUSD and its representatives “establish an extreme departure from the ordinary standard of conduct and a want of even scant care for the health and safety of the minor student pole vault athletes”.
The civil complaint for damages was filed Oct. 28 in Alameda County Superior Court by Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger, a personal injury law firm based in San Francisco.
A PUSD spokesperson told the Pleasanton Weekly on Monday that their side had not yet seen the complaint.
“The District has not yet been served with the lawsuit, but extends its thoughts and concerns to our student and his family. We are in the process of investigating the incident and extending the support we can offer to assist the student, family, and community,” PUSD stated. “Given that the matter involves litigation and injury to a student, the District cannot comment any further.”
Aman Deshmukh was a 15-year-old sophomore at Foothill when the injury occurred – on an afternoon when the designated pole vault coach was absent on vacation, according to Deshmukh’s lawyers.
His mother Yogini Joglekar told the Weekly at the time that “Aman had a clean jump, cleared the bar and landed in the landing area on the mat”, but it was a bad landing and Deshmukh injured the C4 and C5 vertebrae in his neck.
The Weekly covered Deshmukh’s injury that spring; a key angle to the story at the time was the family’s insurance company initially denying their desire to transfer Deshmukh to the teen-specific rehabilitation program at Craig Hospital in Colorado. Soon after the Weekly’s article and public pressure mounted, the insurer changed positions and cleared Deshmukh’s preferred treatment path.
Craig Hospital spotlighted Deshmukh’s journey through his early months in rehab there in a blog article, “A Bright Light at Craig”, recounting the teen’s experience balancing physical treatment and continuing his education, including scoring a 5 on the Advanced Placement world history exam.
Three days after the piece posted online, back in the Bay Area Deshmukh’s family filed a claim against PUSD on his behalf – which the district did not take action on within the 45-day window, so it was deemed to be denied Sept. 29.
A lawsuit followed nearly a month later, alleging the district allowed unsafe conditions that contributed to Deshmukh’s paralyzing injury.
“No competent adult on the staff of the FHS Track & Field team was present to coach, assist, guide, supervise, mentor, or control the minor Plaintiff during the vault or landing process,” the attorneys wrote. “Only after Plaintiff lay motionless on the landing mat for a period of time after his injury did an adult respond to his paralyzed body in the vault pit.”
“The vault pit and landing pad area were not fit for use by high school pole vaulting because they were in a state of neglect, deterioration, and disrepair and they were not in compliance with the local, State and national safety standards,” the lawyers added.
The lawsuit seeks general damages, special economic damages and legal costs from the district, and demands a jury trial.
