Coach, parent begin another battle in court

Marisa O’Neil

Both sides in a lawsuit filed by a high school baseball coach against

the parent of one of his former players claimed in court Monday that

they were defamed by each other in the national media.

Corona del Mar High School baseball coach John Emme is suing

Newport Coast physician Marc Martinez for $1 million, claiming

malicious prosecution. Martinez filed two suits against Emme, one in

2001 and one in 2002, alleging that the coach hurt his son’s college

pitching prospects by forcing him to throw too many pitches and made

derogatory statements to prospective coaches.

Martinez also named the Daily Pilot and a reporter who wrote a

story about the first lawsuit in his 2002 suit. Both suits were

ultimately thrown out.

On Monday, a jury in Superior Court Judge Robert Gallivan’s

courtroom listened to testimony by Emme and Martinez, detailing pitch

counts, recalling conversations between the two and examining media

coverage the first two suits generated.

“There was a litany of media from beginning to end,” Emme

testified Monday. “Dr. Martinez was going national with things that

weren’t true about me.”

The lawsuits and coverage have “impacted my life for four years,”

Emme said.

The dispute first arose in 2001 when the coach and Martinez

disagreed over the number of pitches J.D. Martinez should throw,

ultimately resulting in the parent pulling his son from the team that

year, J.D.’s senior year. Martinez felt his son and other pitchers

were being forced to throw more pitches than were healthy for their

arms.

After he pulled J.D. from the team, Martinez asked Emme to hand

over the team’s score books, which would detail the number of pitches

his son had thrown.

Emme ignored the requests and most of Martinez’s e-mails at the

suggestion of his attorney, Emme said Monday.

“Oftentimes, it was everything I could do not to communicate with

Dr. Martinez,” Emme said. “He had gone after every single aspect of

my life.”

Emme said he did tell a coach from the University of San Diego --

which J.D. entered in 2003, though he did not try out for the team

there -- that Martinez was “litigious” but denied making defamatory

remarks.

“I wouldn’t do anything to hurt the kid,” he said. “I just

wouldn’t do it.”

Martinez testified that he felt his son threw more than 100

pitches on several occasions, not just at the two games Emme had

claimed. Despite his hopes for a college baseball career for J.D.,

Martinez said he felt too much damage was being done to his arm.

“I told [J.D.] it was a bigger risk to play for Emme than not to

play at all,” he said. Martinez accused Emme of saying he would

“close the door” on J.D.’s college prospects if the parent complained

to the Newport-Mesa Unified School District about his coaching. He

went ahead with a complaint in 2001, but the district did not find

Emme at fault.

During his testimony, Martinez referred to quotes from Emme in the

Dec. 31, 2001 Daily Pilot article named in his second suit. In it,

Emme said J.D. “never complained about a sore arm” and “gave up 1 1/2

hits every inning.”

Martinez disputed the statistics and said Emme had “slammed” his

son in the national media. Both appeared on CNN, “Good Morning

America” and other national news shows in 2003 that discussed the

case.

“The demeanor of the allegations is that he’s not good enough to

play in college,” Martinez said.

Martinez’s testimony is scheduled to continue today, and the case

is expected to go to the jury on Wednesday.

* MARISA O’NEIL covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (714) 966-4618 or by e-mail at marisa.oneil @latimes.com.