Overview
- Filed in early March 2026 in Los Angeles County Superior Court, the suit names Lucca van der Woude, Harvard-Westlake School, president Richard B. Commons, and head coach Jack Grover as defendants.
- The complaint alleges that from August 2022 to February 2024, van der Woude and teammates directed daily racial slurs, whipping with ropes, slavery references, and repeated digital penetration at plaintiff Aidan Romain on campus, sometimes in view of staff and classmates.
- After Romain reported a shower-area assault by another teammate in February 2024, he was demoted, isolated, and suspended for four games, and his mother had earlier been assured protection by the coach during a March 29, 2023 meeting, according to the suit.
- The filing cites van der Woude’s late-February 2024 on-campus arrest for sexual assault reported by the Orange County Register and his Nov. 7, 2024 juvenile-court admission to digital penetration, which resulted in wardship and a no-contact order.
- Harvard-Westlake is accused of concealing disciplinary records that enabled van der Woude’s transfer to Newport Harbor High School as he continued in elite water polo programs, while UCLA revoked his commitment, the plaintiff relocated to Barcelona for safety, and requests for comment were not immediately returned.