UK and Mitch Barnhart deny wrongdoing in sexual abuse lawsuit filed over swim coach
The University of Kentucky on Friday asked a judge to dismiss it as a defendant for several claims in an April 12 lawsuit alleging a pattern of sexual abuse by former UK swim coach Lars Jorgensen.
In its motion to dismiss, filed in U.S. District Court in Lexington, UK cited sovereign immunity, or the legal concept that governments generally can’t be sued or held responsible for damages. UK said it’s shielded from claims in the suit alleging failure to train and supervise, negligence and vicarious liability for battery.
“Under Kentucky law, the Commonwealth and its agencies are immune from suit unless it has given its consent or otherwise waived its immunity,” attorney Bryan H. Beauman of Lexington wrote for UK.
“Without question, the University of Kentucky is a state agency that enjoys the benefits and protection of governmental immunity except where it has been explicitly waived by the legislature,” Beauman wrote.
One possible problem for UK is that past federal court decisions have allowed state entities to be held liable in cases involving violations of Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school that gets federal funding. The suit against UK also includes Title IX sexual harassment claims.
The suit is assigned to U.S. District Judge Karen K. Caldwell.
In April, two former UK swimmers and assistant swim coaches filed a lawsuit against UK, Athletic Director Mitch Barnhart, Jorgensen and former swim coach Gary Conelly, who hired Jorgensen in 2012 as his assistant and retired the next year.
The plaintiffs allege that Jorgensen sexually harassed and assaulted them and created a “toxic, sexually hostile environment” inside UK’s swim program while school officials looked the other way.
In a separate response on Friday, UK and Barnhart denied multiple claims made in the lawsuit, including allegations that Jorgensen exploited his position as coach, sexually assaulted and raped women inside the swimming program and was protected by Athletics Department officials who either ignored or rebuffed witness accounts.
“These defendants state that the university’s policy and procedures for addressing and resolving allegations of sexual harassment under Title IX and other forms of sexual misconduct are established by University Administrative Regulation 6.2 and the terms of that referenced document speak for itself,” Beauman wrote.
In his own response Friday, Conelly also filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit’s claims against him.
Conelly, who now lives in Florida, said he retired from UK several years ahead of any of the sexual misconduct alleged against Jorgensen in the suit.
“During the 10 months that Coach Conelly and Lars Jorgensen worked together, there were no reports of any ‘sexual relationship’ involving Jorgensen and a UK coach, UK swimmer or anyone else for that matter,” Conelly’s attorney, Jeffrey K. Phillips of Lexington, wrote in that motion.
As of 5:30 p.m. Friday, no response to the suit had been publicly filed by Jorgensen. However, speaking through his attorney, Jorgensen has denied the claims made in the suit.
The Herald-Leader has reported that UK paid Jorgensen $75,000 to resign in June 2023 in a deal requiring public confidentiality by all parties, while he was under investigation inside the university on allegations of sexual abuse and NCAA training violations. Some of the sexual abuse allegations included those later mentioned in the suit.
The NCAA recently placed the swim team on two years of probation as a result of the training violations.
UK began receiving the first of several complaints about Jorgensen’s behavior toward women in his college swim programs on the day it hired him in 2012, but it did not take action against him, the Herald-Leader has reported. He was promoted to head swimming and diving coach the next year.
In his response Friday, Conelly acknowledged that he and Barnhart received a tip in 2012 about Jorgensen having a sexual relationship with a woman in the University of Toledo swim program when Jorgensen coached there. Conelly said he made calls to Toledo to determine the accuracy of the tip, but nobody there would substantiate it.
Jorgensen was suspended for six days in 2019 for failing to report sexual harassment allegations made against one of his male staff members, the Herald-Leader has reported. That assistant coach left UK months later.
This story was originally published August 9, 2024 at 5:41 PM.
