Dismissal sought by town in lawsuit brought by former Portsmouth High School football coach
PORTSMOUTH — A motion to dismiss a lawsuit against the town, the former superintendent and the School Committee was recently granted in Newport County Superior Court, but the dismissal is not yet final.
Ryan Moniz, a physical education and health teacher at Portsmouth High School, filed suit on June 25, 2021 after his “termination” as the school’s head football coach in 2018.
Moniz, in the original complaint, said a report and its executive summary – which was read aloud at a June 2018 School Committee meeting — “painted a false and defamatory picture and/or impression of Moniz, and was ultimately used as the basis, in whole or in part, by the School Committee, without Moniz receiving any due process or fundamental fairness, to terminate his status” as head football coach.
In a court filing on April 19, Judge Maureen B. Keough granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss the complaint, contingent on the Moniz's furnishing of “answers to defendants’ interrogatories” within 45 days of April 4, 2022. This means the dismissal will not take place if Moniz responds by the deadline.
“This dismissal will not become final until further application and hearing by the Court,” the filing says.
“All discovery will be provided in a timely fashion,” Jeffrey Sowa, Moniz’s attorney, said in an email to The Daily News on Thursday.
“I will add that such stipulated time frames are commonplace in litigation.”
More: Ex-Portsmouth High football coach Ryan Moniz sues town, School Committee for 'termination'
Background
After the suicide of 15-year-old Portsmouth High School student Nathan Bruno on Feb. 7, 2018, the School Committee at the time commissioned attorney Matthew Oliverio to investigate the circumstances surrounding Nathan’s death.
Oliverio’s investigation culminated in a 118-page report featuring interviews with school staff and a list of recommendations for then-superintendent Ana Riley, who is now the superintendent for the Bristol Warren school district.
Oliverio recommended Moniz not be reappointed as the school’s football coach for the 2018-19 academic year, and the School Committee voted 6-0 at a meeting in June 2018 to heed that recommendation.
According to Moniz’s lawsuit, Oliverio’s report “was the product of an incomplete, and cherry-picked investigation which negligently, recklessly and/or intentionally omitted material facts, excluded interviews or other salient evidence from critical percipient witnesses.”
Moniz, the lawsuit says, was made to be the scapegoat by school officials "for the failings of others."
Moniz is alleging defamation/slander; breach of contract; breach of duty of good faith and fair dealing; and intentional, reckless, and/or negligent infliction of emotional distress.
More: Organization created in honor of Nathan Bruno suspends operations after director charged
Moniz also alleges tortious interference with contractual relations. The suit says the defendants “had knowledge of Moniz’s expectation of future employment” as the head football coach and intentionally interfered with his “expected business and contractual relations by manipulating the findings and/or outcome of the investigation.”
The suit also alleges negligence and deprivation of Moniz’s “property and liberty without due process of law,” as Moniz was not provided an opportunity “to be heard and/or confront witnesses regarding the allegations against him.”
Moniz, the suit says, is seeking compensatory damages on all seven counts and demands a jury trial "as to all triable issues of right." The complaint does not contain a monetary amount of damages.
This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: Portsmouth seeks dismissal of lawsuit filed by ex-high school coach
