A onetime competitive athlete has filed a lawsuit against her former coach and USA Swimming over allegations he raped her while acting as her guardian when she was 17.

The alleged victim says the sexual abuse took place in the mid-1980s in California, Texas, Colorado and Nevada at the hands of USA Swimming coach Scott MacFarland, who once coached the U.S. national swim team. She filed the lawsuit in California Superior Court in Orange County on August 18 under the relatively new Assembly Bill 218, which expanded the rights of victims of childhood sexual abuse.

MacFarland was the victim’s coach at the Aurora, Colorado branch of the renowned Mission Viejo Nadadores swim club. In recent years, he was the head coach at the Magnolia Aquatic Club near Houston, Texas, but he resigned in April 2018, the Houston Chronicle reports.

The plaintiff says MacFarland began sexually abusing her when she was a minor. She claims USA Swimming and Mission Viejo Nadadores were negligent, and she accuses all three defendants of intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Lawsuit Details Sexual Contact with USA Swimming Coach

According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff began training with MacFarland after her mother died of cancer and while her father was struggling with the loss and drinking.

“Swimming became (her) outlet and was a safe place for her emotionally and physically,” the civil complaint says.

During the 1985-86 school year, when the alleged victim was 17, her father gave her an ultimatium: quit swimming or move out, she told the Orange County Register. The young student athlete chose to continue swim training and MacFarland “had (her) move in to his one-bedroom apartment,” the lawsuit says.

In July 1986, MacFarland drove the plaintiff to a swim competition in Irvine, California. While there, he “moved into” the teenager’s hotel room and raped her, taking her virginity, she says. When the swim meet was over, MacFarland took the plaintiff to another competition in Austin, Texas, where he again had intercourse with her.

Days later, in Arizona, the athlete and USA Swimming coach stayed at the home of two other USA Swimming coaches, who knew she was just 17, the lawsuit says. Still, MacFarland stayed in the same bedroom as the victim and had sex with her there. Then all four traveled to Las Vegas for another swim meet, and again, MacFarland stayed in a hotel room with the victim.

At the end of the summer, MacFarland brough the plaintiff back to Colorado, where she began her senior year in high school while living with her coach in a new condominium. MacFarland informed the plaintiff’s school he was her “guardian.”

“In reality … he was her molester and exploiter,” the lawsuit says. The USA Swimming coach “leveraged the fact he was providing food and shelter to (the plaintiff) to gain her sexual services.”

Culture Normalized Sexual Relationship, Suit Says

Meanwhile, in USA Swimming social circles, the two were considered to be “dating,” according to the plaintiff. “The culture of (USA) Swimming has long condoned adult male coaches having sex with the girls they coach,” the lawsuit says.

According to the lawsuit, the alleged victim filed a complaint about MacFarland with SafeSport in 2010. He told investigators they had a consensual relationship. SafeSport was unable to get evidence from USA Swimming that showed the plaintiff competed in the 1986 swim meets. For that reason, it decided there was insufficient evidence to act against MacFarland.

“USA Swimming has withheld evidence … in order to prevent (the alleged victim) from proving the allegations,” the lawsuit says.

New Bill Paves Way for Lawsuit

California Assembly Bill 218, passed in 2019, made it possible for the plaintiff to file the lawsuit against MacFarland and USA Swimming. The bill created a three-year window for victims of childhood sexual abuse for whom the state’s statute of limitations had expired to file lawsuits.

The USA Swimming Lawsuit is Case No. 30-2020-01155769-CU-PO-CJC in the Superior Court of California, County of Orange.

This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.