A Thousand Oaks school basketball coach has launched a libel lawsuit against a parent he claims has been trying to “destroy” him.
Westlake High School’s head varsity boys' coach Robert Bloom is asking for $1m in damages from James Clark, claiming he launched a vendetta against him due to him dropping his son from the team.
Clark has denied the claims, saying he was just trying to determine whether basketball camps he was running on campus during summer breaks were legal or not.
Bloom alleges Clark was “on a mission to destroy and defame” him, by writing emails to himself and others in which he claimed he was running a fake sports camp on campus, and using minors as workers to make money.
The coach’s attorney says it is a case of a disgruntled father upset over playing time and "helicopter parenting" at its worst.
Clark admits he would have liked his son to have got more playing time on the team, but denies this is why he took action.
He alleges his son and others were pressured into working at a basketball camp that he claims Bloom ran for profit and has called for blooms resignation.
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"We tried to get the district and the school and the coaches to stop what they were doing and they just didn't do it," Clark said.
It will now be up to the court to decide on the merits of the case, and ultimately who was in the wrong over the matter.
