By Brian Anderson
San Ramon Valley Times

Sept. 16, 1999

MARTINEZ — A former Las Lomas High School student who was severely beaten following a Danville football game has filed a civil suit against nine Danville teens and their families.

Attorneys for Mark Hafen sued in Contra Costa Superior Court on Friday, a day before the one-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 assault.

The suit seeks unspecified damages and blames the attackers, their parents, school officials and the district.

The students named in the suit include eight who were convicted and one who was suspended and arrested, but whose charges were later dropped when prosecutors realized they had confused him with a suspect with the same first name.

The suit contends the students were negligent and intentionally brutalized Hafen following a football game between the two schools at San Ramon Valley High.

Hafen also argues in the suit that the parents did not control their teens despite knowing of their "dangerous and violent propensities and tendencies."

San Ramon Valley High Principal David Lorden, then-Assistant Principal Mark Corti and the San Ramon Valley Unified School District also are named as defendants. The suit claims district and school officials had an obligation to make the event safe but failed to do so.

Lorden, Corti, principal of California High School, and the district "had prior knowledge that (the students) had been engaging in provocative and threatening conduct toward students from Las Lomas High School," the suit contends.

District Superintendent Robert Kessler said he has not seen the case and could not comment. Calls to Lorden and Corti on Wednesday were not returned.

Lynn Bijle, Hafen's stepmother, would not comment on the suit, but said he is doing fine.

"He's just trying to be normal," she said. "He always wanted to leave it behind."

Widespread publicity over the attack, which occurred in a San Ramon Valley High parking lot on Love Lane in Danville, made the case hard for the community to forget.

Hafen and another Las Lomas student were walking to their car about 9:30 on the Friday night of the football season opener when they were jumped by the students. Hafen's companion got away and called for help.

Knocked to the ground, Hafen was punched, kicked and brutally battered. His left leg was propped up on a curb, then stomped.

Six days later, in the hospital, Hafen awoke from a medication-induced fog with a metal rod in his leg and various cuts and bruises. Two weeks of rehabilitation helped him heal enough to return to school in a wheelchair.

"He wanted to get into UC (Santa Barbara) but his grades suffered," Bijle said. "(The beating) took a terrible toll on his senior year." Hafen is attending a junior college in Santa Barbara.

A man who is named in the suit and whose son pleaded no contest to his involvement in the beating had no comment on the case or the status of his son. Calls to the other defendants were not returned.

Those who were held responsible for the beating are either moving on with their lives or serving time, their attorneys said.

Jeff Tucker is serving a six-year and eight-month sentence in the California Youth Authority.

Vladimir Kovacevic is serving an eight-year sentence in the CYA.

Kevin Clouse finished serving his nine-month sentence in the Orin Allen Youth Rehabilitation Facility in Byron several weeks ago, said his attorney, Michael Sterrett.

"He served his sentence and did very well there," Sterrett said, adding that an appeal of the case is pending. "He is trying to resume his education and get on with life."

Jeremy Thornton was sentenced Jan. 27 to nine months in Orin Allen. Thornton was one of four defendants named by the Times during the trial because of the severity of the charges against them.

Another student, who was 15 at the time, served a 6-month sentence in Juvenile Hall in Martinez, said his attorney, John Noonan. He was released during the summer and is going to school at an unknown location.

A 17-year-old sentenced to two months in a county facility finished his time and "has moved on and is doing well," said attorney Larry Cook.

Another 17-year-old was sentenced to 60 days of house arrest, one year probation and 80 hours of community service.

"He's back in school and doing terrific," said attorney Rick Madsen. "He's a bright young man who was in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Sentencing information for a 16-year-old was not available.

Kessler said all the students were suspended, but two went through a re-admittance process and are back in district schools.

"There have not been any problems," Kessler said. "You always want people to learn from their mistakes. In that sense, it's very encouraging."