Two plaintiffs suing the University of Kentucky over the behavior of former head swimming & diving coach Lars Jorgensen have agreed to drop four of the claims against the school.
Briggs Alexander and “Jane Doe,” the latter of whom filed a motion this week to proceed anonymously that appears to be unchallenged by the defendants, are suing Kentucky, Jorgensen, and athletics director Mitch Barnhart alleging that the department was complicit in allowing ex-head coach Jorgensen “to foster a toxic, sexually hostile environment within the swim program and to prey on, sexually harass, and commit horrific sexual assaults and violent rapes against young female coaches and collegiate athletes who were reliant on him.”
The 53-year-old Jorgensen resigned last summer amid an investigation after a decade in Lexington, receiving a $75,000 settlement and foregoing the rest of the $402,500 left on his contract through the 2024-25 season. He appeared in SafeSport’s disciplinary database in November for unspecified allegations of misconduct.
The four charges that attorneys for the plaintiffs and the university agreed to drop are one count of failure to train and supervise, one count of negligence, and two counts of vicarious liability for battery. That order has not yet been signed by the judge.
If accepted by the court, two charges would remain against Kentucky: one count of sex harassment in violation of Title IX and one count of sex discrimination in violation of the Kentucky Civil Rights Act.
The university had previously argued that the four counts should be dismissed because the University of Kentucky has sovereign immunity as a state institution that shields it from lawsuits.
The dismissals does not impact the cases against Jorgensen or Barnhart. Charges against Gary Conelly, the former head swim coach at Kentucky who hired Jorgensen, were dropped in October.
Alleged Assaults
The first alleged assault dates back to December of 2013, at a team Christmas party that Jorgensen hosted at his house. A former swim team staffer told The Athletic that Jorgensen forced her into his bedroom and raped her. He is accused of continuing to abuse the staffer over the next two years and telling her that nobody would believe her if she told anyone. She ultimately left in 2016 for a job at a “less prominent program.”
One of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit is Briggs Alexander, a former team captain and an assistant coach with the Wildcats. The complaint claims that Jorgensen “groomed” Alexander during her time on the women’s team from 2014-18.
“Jorgensen isolated Alexander, sought to gain her trust, strove to control every facet of her life, and repeatedly made sexualized comments in an attempt to desensitize sexual topics,” says the lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky.
In December of 2019, after the team’s annual Christmas party at Jorgensen’s house, Alexander alleges that Jorgensen forced her into his bedroom, pinned her down by the wrists, and raped her. She also described three more sexual assaults while working as a volunteer assistant coach (2019-20) and assistant coach (2020-22) and a fourth that allegedly occurred in April of 2023, almost a year after resigning in May of 2022.
Alexander now identifies as male, but the lawsuit uses gender pronouns that align with his transition timeline so readers can understand “who I was in the moment when I was being abused.”
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Expect UK to settle on the two remaining claims, that will probably come after the new year. Hint – when you know something is coming you budget for it, and its budget season
“Alleged assaults” are the relevant words in this article. One is innocent in the USA until proven guilty. For the sake of everyone involved, this premise is critical to revisit until our legal system determines guilt or innocence.
This is not a criminal case so the “innocent until proven guilty” is simply irrelevant. This is a civil case where the standard is “preponderance of the evidence” or “more likely than not.” And since this is a civil case there is no “guilt” or “innocence.” The standard is “liable or not liable.” Don’t pretend to be an expert on the law when you don’t know.
You are correct that in a civil case it is all about being judged liable or not liable. The defendant is presumed to be INNOCENT since it is not a criminal case.
There is no law prohibiting public opinion on any matter, in fact I believe it is one of our foundational rights. You don’t have to like everything that is said but you have to agree to their right to say it. That’s the deal
The First Amendment does not cover all spoken and written words, there are exceptions. That is the deal.
Creepy.
This case is falling apart at the seams! This man deserves an apology and a statue for being a great coach at Kentucky!
That is a very poor description of what is happening.
This ruling had nothing to do with the merits of the accusations. Lars Jorgensen would not enjoy the same immunity as a state institution would.
This is just normal procedure for any suit of this nature. They will focus on the ones that are sure to be proven. Kentucky is still facing two claims that will difficult to wiggle out of based on their standing with state laws. This is why they chose to drop the others, that’s all.
Is this going to be another Freezing Cold Take??