Judge rules lawsuit targeting St. John Bosco coach Jason Negro misfires
A lawsuit that named decorated St. John Bosco High School football coach Jason Negro as a defendant was ruled Thursday by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge to have little legal merit.
The civil suit filed a year ago by Brian Wickstrom, recently fired St. John Bosco president and CEO, and two other former school administrators, seeks damages from Negro, the school and the Salesian Society — a Catholic religious order that oversees the school — by alleging retaliation, harassment and defamation.
“Anyone can file a complaint, but when it gets to court, it has to have a legal basis and facts,” said Brian Panish, Negro’s attorney and a longtime advocate for St. John Bosco.
The plaintiffs — St. John Bosco CFO Melanie Marcaurel, CTO Derek Barraza and Wickstrom — also want their jobs back, according to the lawsuit. They were fired in 2024 after alleging that Negro embezzled money from the school for years and had assistant coaches pay cash for valuable players’ tuition, saying the payments came from “anonymous donors.”
The lawsuit also alleged that Negro conducted all financial transactions associated with his powerful cash program that he kept in a safe in his office, without any accounting or accountability from the school.
A cross-complaint filed in June by Negro, St. John Bosco and the Salesians fought back, claiming that “the school discovered information that Wickstrom obtained loans without authorization, received excessive compensation and benefits to which he was not entitled, and breached his fiduciary duties.”
In his ruling Thursday, Judge Tony L. Richardson determined that it was St. John Bosco — not a Black man or the Salesian Society — who employed the plaintiffs, making the school alone an appropriate target for most of the claims. Richardson said the plaintiffs have 20 days to amend their lawsuit to focus on St. John Bosco as a defendant.
The judge also rejected the argument that Negro would be liable for punitive damages, writing that “plaintiffs have not alleged a viable cause of action against Negro and therefore have not alleged facts to support punitive damages.”
A message left with the attorney representing Wickstrom, Marcaurel and Barraza was not returned.
Negro was twice named national coach of the year by Max Preps, leading the Bellflower Parish school to a 177-30 record in 16 seasons, winning four CIF state championships and two national titles.
