Dodgers fans suing team want jury to hear about 2011 Giants fan attack

Two Dodgers fans who say they were subjected to excessive force and wrongly ejected from Dodger Stadium in 2024 are asking a judge to let them tell jurors about the 2011 parking lot attack on San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow.

Luis Ortiz and Joanna Maria Iniguez allege in a Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit that security guards removed them from the stadium after they objected to how two other fans who ran onto the field were treated.

Filed in January 2025, the lawsuit accuses the Dodgers of assault, battery, false imprisonment, civil rights violations and negligent hiring, retention and supervision. The trial is scheduled for Nov. 2.

On Monday, the plaintiffs' attorney filed court papers with Judge Upinder Kalra stating his opposition to a team pretrial motion to exclude any evidence regarding the attack on Stow.

In 2011, Stow was attacked in one of the venue's parking lots. A Los Angeles Superior Court jury in 2014 awarded about $18 million in damages to Stow while attributing 75 percent of the liability to the two assailants who beat him into a coma, 25 precent to the team, and none to former Dodgers owner Frank McCourt.

"The fact that security at Dodgers games has increased to the point that it currently exists, largely as a result of the Bryan Stow incident, is clearly relevant evidence," the plaintiffs' lawyer contends in his court papers.

The outgrowth of substantially increased security by the Dodgers in response to its alleged lack of same during the Stow beating is relevant to prove that the Dodgers' alleged zero-tolerance policy includes permitting its security personnel to "run roughshod" over even minor encounters with patrons like Ortiz and Iniguez, the pair's lawyer further states.

In their previous court papers, Dodgers attorneys denied the plaintiffs' allegations and said any damages they suffered was due to the "reckless, negligent or improper conduct of plaintiffs themselves."

Ortiz and Iniguez attended the game between the Dodgers and the San Diego Padres on Oct. 5, 2024, at Dodger Stadium. Both saw security guards apprehend two other fans who ran onto the field and believed the pair were being handled too harshly, according to the suit, which further states that Iniguez made an obscene finger gesture toward the guards.

When a female guard subsequently approached the plaintiffs and told them they would have to leave the venue, they protested that they had done nothing wrong and were only being ejected because they objected to the treatment of the fans who went onto the field, the suit states.

The guards then forcibly removed Ortiz and Iniguez from their seats and both suffered shoulder injuries, according to the suit, which further states Iniguez suffered injuries to her arm, wrist, elbow and hand.

Ortiz and Iniguez have suffered lost income as well as emotional distress due to their injuries, the suit states. The suit does not indicate any relationship between the plaintiffs or say if they went to the game together.

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