The pool at the University of Kentucky's Lancaster Aquatic Center. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Jamie Lucke)
This story was updated Aug. 12 to include a statement from the plaintiffs attorney.
One week after University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto issued a statement saying allegations of sexual abuse by a former swimming coach were “deeply distressing to all of us,” the university sought to distance itself from the case against Lars Jorgensen Friday by filing a motion to dismiss four of the six counts in which it was implicated in a lawsuit brought by former UK swimmers and coaches.
UK’s attorneys argue the university is “immune” from the claims of plaintiffs Briggs Alexander and Jane Doe based on the U.S. Supreme Court ruling the 11thAmendment “bars a damages action against a state in Federal Court,” absent a waiver from the state or a valid congressional override. Additionally, UK says it bears no “vicarious liability” for Jorgensen’s alleged misdeeds, contrary to two counts in the complaint. The motion to dismiss was made late Friday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Lexington.
For legal precedent, UK’s attorneys cited a 2000 case in which the Roman Catholic Diocese of Owensboro was not held liable for the adulterous affair between a priest and the wife of a parishioner he was counseling. In that case, the court ruled, the priest “was not advancing any cause of the diocese or engaging in behavior appropriate to the normal scope of his employment.”
In short, UK is in sympathy with its swimmers who may have suffered during Jorgensen’s tenure, but is unwilling to pay for any pain he inflicted.
UK athletic director Mitch Barnhart, whom Capilouto praised last week for “more than two decades of exemplary leadership and students-first approach,” echoed the university’s response in a joint filing submitted Friday. The lawsuit accused Barnhart of intentionally concealing allegations against Jorgensen.
Former UK swimming coach Gary Conelly, who hired Jorgensen and was subsequently succeeded by him, also filed a motion to dismiss the counts against him, asserting he was immune from the suit as a university employee; that he was not indifferent to allegations against Jorgensen, contrary to the complaint, but investigated them at the time of his hiring; and that he could hardly be held responsible for conduct that occurred more than a decade after he left the university.
“The motions to dismiss filed by the University of Kentucky, Mitch Barnhart and Gary Conelly bear no weight on the merits of the lawsuit?we filed in April,” plaintiffs attorney Megan Bonnani said in a prepared statement. “This is standard legal procedure?and?another way for the defendants to avoid accountability. We remain?steadfast in our pursuit of justice on behalf of the brave plaintiffs who came forward about the sexual abuse and toxic environment they were forced to endure.”
In the lawsuit, Briggs Alexander, a former UK team captain and assistant coach, claims to have been raped four times by Jorgensen between 2009 and 2013. Alexander was then known as Bridgette Alexander. Jane Doe, another former UK swimmer and coach who has chosen anonymity, says Jorgensen was guilty of sexually abusing her. A third UK swimmer, identified in the complaint as Jane Doe 2, also claims to have been raped by Jorgensen but is not party to the lawsuit.
Though Jorgensen told The Athletic “none of that is true” when confronted with the allegations, docket records available online show Jorgensen has yet to submit a response to the amended complaint filed June 25. Nor is there a record of Jorgensen seeking an extension to his initial response deadline of July 26. A call seeking clarification from Judge Karen Caldwell’s office was not immediately returned.
When the original complaint was filed on April 12, UK spokeswoman Kristi Willett said university police were “in the process of assessing” information received. Asked Friday about the possibility of criminal charges, Willett said, “We have no additional information with respect to that at this time.”
In his statement last week, Capilouto said the most serious allegations against Jorgensen “were only known to us” once the lawsuit was filed, though Barnhart and Conelly received email warnings about Jorgensen’s conduct with women when he was first hired in 2012. According to the lawsuit, UK’s Title IX office received warnings about Jorgensen as early as 2015 or 2016 and was alerted to two complaints against him in August, 2019. Alexander said she contacted UK’s Title IX office about Jorgensen’s alleged abuses in May, 2023.
“I thought I could trust them,” Alexander said during a Zoom press conference in April. “I disclosed my abuse and thought it was being taken care of. And months went by and I never heard anything back. So I reached out. I was just repeatedly discouraged and vigorously discouraged to not come forward and not publish this reporting. That’s what’s hurting me the most at this moment.
“Title IX offices are there to protect student-athletes. When our coaches aren’t protecting us in the situation (Jorgensen) wasn’t, we should have been able to trust the Title IX office and none of us could.”
Capilouto acknowledged the need to do better in his statement last week, announcing numerous reforms and underscoring the athletics administration’s responsibility to report allegations as soon as they become aware of them. Among the university’s new initiatives are the hiring of additional personnel to investigate allegations of sexual harassment or misconduct and an emphasis on better caseload and records management to help ensure sexual harassment and misconduct cases are investigated and resolved more swiftly.
Other changes include more robust pre-employment screening, and those found responsible for significant violations will be ruled “not eligible for rehire” in personnel files. In addition,? all university employment contracts will now include language laying out the consequences for failure to report sexual harassment or misconduct.
“Mitch and I are sickened by allegations that members of the UK community suffered harm because of the actions of someone entrusted to protect and empower our student athletes and staff,” Capilouto said. “We will not tolerate abuse, and neither should anyone who is a member of our community.”
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