Former UK swimmers drop some claims against university in sex abuse lawsuit
Two people accusing former University of Kentucky head swim coach Lars Jorgensen of sexual harassment and assault have agreed to drop four of the six claims they made against UK in the federal lawsuit they filed in April.
The plaintiffs — Briggs Alexander and “Jane Doe” — are former UK swimmers who later worked as assistant swim coaches under Jorgensen.
They are suing UK, Jorgensen and UK athletics director Mitch Barnhart, who was Jorgensen’s supervisor. They have alleged that UK for years turned a blind eye to warnings about Jorgensen’s predatory behavior toward women, even as they and a third UK swimmer were abused by him.
Jorgensen resigned from UK in June 2023, receiving $75,000 as he departed. At the time, he was the focus of misconduct complaints from students and staffers and two investigations at UK, one for alleged sexual abuse of women in the swim program and the other for alleged NCAA student-athlete training violations.
In an agreed order filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Lexington, but not yet signed by Judge Karen Caldwell, the plaintiffs agreed to drop claims of one count of failure to train and supervise; one count of negligence; and two counts of vicarious liability for battery.
UK would remain a defendant in the suit for one count of sex harassment in violation of Title IX, a federal civil rights law, and one count of sex discrimination in violation of the Kentucky Civil Rights Act.
The plaintiffs’ claims against Jorgensen and Barnhart would not be affected by the agreed order.
The plaintiffs dropped a defendant from the suit in October: the previous head swim coach at UK, Gary Conelly, who hired Jorgensen in 2012 as his assistant coach but retired the next year and moved to Florida. Conelly asked to be dismissed from the suit, arguing that he was not at UK during the alleged abuse.
A call to one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys on Thursday was not immediately returned.
“We are pleased that the plaintiffs agreed with the university’s contention that it should be removed from several counts of this litigation, under both the U.S. Constitution and state law,” UK spokesman Jay Blanton told the Herald-Leader. “And we look forward to prevailing on the other claims, including those against Director Barnhart.”
This story was originally published November 7, 2024 at 4:49 PM.
