Appeals Court Rejects Suit From Formerly Banned Swim Coach

This week, a U.S. Court of Appeals upheld a previous judge’s decision to dismiss a defamation lawsuit filed by a formerly-banned swim coach seeking damages from USA Swimming.

Michael Pliuskaitis was a swim coach at SNOW Swimming and Swimtec LLC, among other clubs, who was added to USA Swimming’s banned list in early 2013. Pliuskaitis appealed the decision, but the appeal was originally rejected and Pliuskaitis banned under several sections of USA Swimming’s Code of Conduct dealing with inappropriate sexually-oriented behavior.

Pliuskaitis, however, got a hearing with an independent arbitrator, who overturned his lifetime ban. USA Swimming made clear it did not agree with the decision, but still followed the abitrator’s ruling by removing Pliuskaitis from the banned list. He was believed to be the first coach removed from that list since it was made public in 2010.

From there, Pliuskaitis sued USA Swimming for damages, claiming that his inclusion on the banned list constituted defamation by the swimming federation. However, per the Denver Post, a federal judge rejected the defamation suit, citing the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act as well as the fact that Pliuskaitis filed his defamation suit after the statute of limitations had already passed.

Pliuskaitis appealed that decision to the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld the lower court decision, also noting that the original arbitrator had denied his request for damages.