NCAA tells state court the USOPC has no legal duty to protect its athletes from sex abuse

The NCAA has filed a brief in support of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee in a potential landmark California Supreme Court case, asking the court to rule that the USOPC does not have a legal duty to protect athletes from sexual abuse and harassment.

The NCAA acknowledges in the filing that a Supreme Court ruling that the USOPC has legal obligation to protect athletes could also create major ramifications for the NCAA as well.

“This Court should hold that the USOC did not owe a duty to Plaintiffs” to protect them from sexual abuse and harassment, NCAA attorneys write in the brief.

The State Supreme Court decision in January to hear an appeal of a 2nd District Court decision in October that found the USOPC did not have a legal responsibility to protect athletes came against the backdrop of a new state law that could see USOPC, and its 49 national governing bodies, as well as the NCAA, face dozens, if not hundreds, of sexual abuse lawsuits.

The new law, which went into effect on Jan. 1, creates a threeyear window to file past claims that had expired under the statute of limitations. The law, authored by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego), also extends the statute of limitations for reporting childhood sexual abuse from the time a victim is age 26 to 40. The period for delayed reasonable discovery is also

increased from three to five years.

The NCAA filing is the latest chapter in a lawsuit filed by three former Olympic taekwondo hopefuls who allege they were sexually abused by coach Marc Gitelman over a seven-year period and that the abuse was enabled by the USOPC and USA Taekwondo, the sport’s national governing body.

While the appellate court found that the USOPC did not have a duty to protect athletes, it did write that USA Taekwondo could be held liable for Gitelman’s sexual abuse of the three athletes. The ruling against USA Taekwondo was not appealed.

“If this Court were to find” that the USOPC can be held liable in such cases, NCAA attorneys write in

the brief, “the NCAA and organizations like it would face the prospect of massive potential liability for conduct they can neither monitor nor control.”

An attorney for the alleged victims in the taekwondo case said he was not surprised by the NCAA filing.

“The NCAA has a long history of looking the other way when its institutions fail to protect athletes from sexual abuse,” said attorney Stephen Estey.