U.S. District Court Judge Karen Caldwell on Monday dismissed some federal sexual abuse claims from two former Kentucky swimmers against former Kentucky head coach Lars Jorgensen.
But at the same time, Caldwell allowed state law claims and Title IX allegations to move forward.
One plaintiff in the case is identified as Jane Doe, while the other is former team captain and former Kentucky assistant coach Briggs Alexander.
The ruling stems from a lawsuit filed last year by Doe and Alexander alleging that the athletic department was complicit in allowing Jorgensen to “foster a 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 first alleged assault case originated from a team Christmas party Jorgensen hosted at his house in December 2013.
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.”
Alexander, who now identifies as male, alleged that in 2019, Jorgensen forced her into his bedroom, pinned her down by the wrists and raped her.
Jorgenson also described in the lawsuit three more sexual assaults while working as a volunteer assistant coach (2019-20) and an assistant coach (2020-22), and a fourth that allegedly occurred in April 2023 almost a year after resigning in May 2022.
Monday’s ruling dismissed federal claims against Jorgensen because some were filed outside the federal one-year statute of limitations, while others were dismissed because the court ruled Jorgensen was not acting as a state official at the time of the alleged offense.
Some claims were kept intact under Kentucky’s five-year statute of limitations for sexual offenses. The case now moves on to discovery and trial.
Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart remains a defendant in the case on multiple counts, including allegations of failure to supervise. The court also rejected a challenge by Jorgensen and granted Jane Doe’s motion to remain anonymous.
The now 54-year-old Jorgensen resigned as Kentucky’s head coach in June 2023 after being suspended the previous May pending an NCAA investigation into compliance rules violations.
Jorgensen swam for the U.S. Olympic team in 1988 and set program records during a collegiate career at Tennessee.
Still no comment from Riley Gaines?!?
She has posted several things on social media about this. I haven’t seen anything recently, but when the charges were first levied she posted about it at least twice.
Crazy that statute of limitations exist. Coaches get away with so much. Seeing these cause get dismiss is a major reason I see no reason in reporting mine at a different university. An assault by a coach, statue of limitation In the state where mine is happened (ACC, Georgia) is shorter than the time it took for me to realize what happened was assault. It’s sickening. college swimming is a brutal environment. I feel terrible for the folks abuse my Lars, as well as those abuse by the swimming community.
A sport with so much love and passion. Athletes deserve to be safe.
Crazy that statute of limitations exist. Coaches get away with so much. Seeing these cause get dismiss is a major reason I see no reason in reporting mine at a different university. An assault by a coach, statue of limitation In the state where mine is happened (ACC, Georgia) is shorter than the time it took for me to realize what happened was assault. It’s sickening. college swimming is a brutal environment. I feel terrible for the folks abuse my Lars, as well as those abuse by the swimming community.
A sport with so much love and passion. Athletes deserve to be safe.
Great pic of Lars! Captures his essence really well.