An attorney for three Mater Dei High School football players accused of beating a teammate and another Mater Dei student has been declared ineligible practice law by the State Bar Court.
David M. Nisson, a Tustin attorney, was declared ineligible Dec. 13 for misusing client funds in cases unrelated to the Mater Dei altercations, according to State Bar Court documents.
Nisson in an interview acknowledged the seriousness of the charges.
“It was a personal injury case, like an auto accident, and I was using trust accounts that didn’t belong to me,” Nisson said. “I paid everything back.”
The State Bar filed disciplinary charges against Nisson on Oct. 6 alleging he “engaged in a major misappropriation of client funds.”
“A petition for inactive enrollment is pending, alleging that this attorney represents a substantial threat of harm to the interests of the attorney’s clients or the public,” the State Bar said on its website.
Nisson played a key role in a controversy that has attracted national attention and raised questions about the culture within one of the country’s premier high school football programs following a pair of recent Orange County Register reports detailing misconduct by Mater Dei players.
Nisson represented a current Mater Dei football player who punched a teammate, 50 pounds lighter than him, three times in the face during an alleged hazing ritual called “Bodies” on Feb. 4 while other Monarchs players shouted racial epithets at the smaller player, according to two videos of the altercation obtained by the Register.
The fight would leave the smaller player with a traumatic brain injury, two gashes over his right eye, one over his left and a broken nose that would require surgery, the results of a series of blows to the head that would prompt a Santa Ana Police Department investigator to recommend the Orange County District Attorney’s juvenile division file felony battery charges against the other player, according to a police report obtained by the Register.
The Orange County District Attorney’s Office does not intend to file charges in the case. Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer has said the altercation does not meet the legal standards for criminal “hazing” or felony assault, but he is willing to consider additional evidence.
The smaller player’s family filed a lawsuit against Mater Dei High School and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange in Orange County Superior Court on Nov. 23.
A Mater Dei player provided a cellphone video to Pat Dubar, a Monarch assistant coach. Dubar shared the video with Nisson, who represented the larger player. Nisson eventually provided the video to the Santa Ana PD.
After reviewing the video of the altercation, Santa Ana PD investigator David Angel concluded that the larger player’s second punch to the smaller player’s face was the turning point in the fight and recommended charges be filed.
Nisson also represented two Mater Dei football players who allegedly attacked and beat a Monarch basketball player as he tried to leave a social gathering in Irvine shortly after midnight on May 5, 2019, according to police reports.
The alleged attack left Chase Hall, the Mater Dei basketball player with a broken jaw that required surgery.
“I’ll never forget what the surgeon said,” his mother Mary Hall said while discussing the punch that broke her son’s jaw.
“He said if it had been a quarter-inch higher,” she continued, “he would have been gone.
“He would be dead.”
Irvine PD also obtained video from a surveillance camera from a home on the street of the altercation, according to a police report. After reviewing the video, an Irvine PD officer wrote he “witnessed (one of the Mater Dei football players) walk up behind Hall and punch Hall in the head area. Hall falls to the ground and is helped into a waiting Uber.”
The Irvine PD officer concluded “this incident stemmed from a previous fight involving (a classmate)” and another student and (the classmate) “was upset over an apparent video sharing of the fight and confronted Hall who he suspected was spreading it. The classmate brought (the Mater Dei football players) with him as intimidation to confront Hall … a result of the confrontation, Hall was physically assaulted by (one of the football players) …which resulted in a broken jaw.
“lt is my opinion a violation of CPC 243(D) aggravated assault occurred. Additionally, (criminal conspiracy) should be considered as it appears as though” the classmate and the football players “arrived at the location for the sole purpose of confronting (Hall) and assaulting him.”
Juvenile proceedings are sealed. Nisson, who represented the two Mater Dei football players, declined to discuss the outcome of the criminal cases because his clients were juveniles at the time of the altercation. Mary Hall attended the hearings and said the players were given probation.
Source: Orange County Register
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