Beginning in May 2011, the plaintiff, a 12-year-old West Valley Youth Soccer League player, was sexually abused by Emanuele Fabrizio, 37, a volunteer coach. The soccer player’s father discovered inappropriate text messages from his daughter’s coach and called the police in March 2012, which led to Fabrizio being arrested and charged. As part of a deal with the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, Fabrizio pleaded guilty to one count of continuous sexual abuse of a child, and one count of lewd and lascivious acts on a child under the age of 14. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison. The female soccer player, acting through her guardian ad litem, sued Fabrizio and the United States Youth Soccer Association Inc., a national soccer association that controlled all of the state associates and their affiliates, including California Youth Soccer Association Inc. (known as Cal North) and West Valley Youth Soccer League,which includes youth players from West San Jose, Campbell, and portions of Saratoga, Los Gatos and Cupertino. Cal North and West Valley were initially named as a defendants, but were ultimately dismissed from the case. Fabrizio defaulted. Plaintiff’s counsel contended that the U.S. Youth Soccer Association failed to conduct criminal background checks of all adults who would have contact with children involved in its programs. Counsel noted that Fabrizio, who came to Silicon Valley from Italy and worked as an engineer at PayPal, volunteered for a coaching position with the West Valley Youth Soccer League in 2010. He was only asked to declare on his application whether he had ever been convicted of a felony, a crime of violence or a crime against a person. On his application, Fabrizio failed to mention a 2006 conviction for domestic violence and battery against his wife, which would have disqualified him, if it had been discovered through a background check. However, no such check was conducted, even though Fabrizio authorized the league to check his record. The association claimed that it did not have a duty to require its local affiliates to conduct background checks on all coaches. It acknowledged that the domestic violence conviction would have disqualified Fabrizio, but claimed that even if a background check was done, the domestic violence conviction might not have shown up because Fabrizio had obtained a judicial order setting aside the conviction. Plaintiff’s counsel claimed that his experts would have responded that despite the conviction being set aside, the conviction still would have shown up in a standard background check., The plaintiff was sexually abused by Fabrizio at various times between May 2011 and March 2012, when her father called the police. During that time, Fabrizio had sex with the plaintiff twice, kissed her at least 20 times and engaged in other sexual activity with the plaintiff multiple times. He also had child pornography of the girl and had multiple inappropriate sexual conversations with her. At one point, the plaintiff carved the letter “M” — for “Manny,” Fabrizio’s nickname — into her belly with a pair of scissors. The plaintiff claimed that she was taunted by her classmates over the relationship with Fabrizio and that her Catholic faith, athletics, school work, and relationships with her family and friends all suffered as she tried to grapple with the abuse. The plaintiff is now 19 years old and is going to college. However, she claimed that she continues to suffer from emotional and psychological stemming from the abuse, including suicidal thoughts, anger outbursts, insomnia, and extreme anxiety and fear. She also claimed her parents died in 2017, which compounded her suffering. The plaintiff sought recovery of damages for her past and future emotional distress. Defense counsel disputed the nature and extent of the girl’s harm. Counsel argued that the plaintiff was exaggerating her harm and that any harm alleged was the result of the deaths of her parents.