A lawsuit filed against the NCAA earlier this year claiming it should be held responsible for the sexual assault of college athletes by coaches is invalid, lawyers for the association say, because the organization has no duty to protect them

The NCAA submitted a formal response to the complaint against it to a federal judge in California on May 22.

“This case is not about whether the NCAA opposes sexual abuse and works to support its member institutions in eradicating it — it does,” the organization’s lawyers said in their answer to the lawsuit. “Instead, this case is about what the NCAA’s legal duty is to take action with respect to sexual abuse on campuses nationwide and, more specifically, what the NCAA’s legal responsibility is for the alleged sexual abuse (all outside California) by one track coach 20 years ago.”

The NCAA says the lawsuit is flawed and it plans to ask the judge to formally dismiss the case in July.

NCAA Sexual Assault Lawsuit Filed

Three former University of Texas track and field athletes – Erin Aldrich, Londa Bevins and Jessica Johnson – filed the NCAA sexual assault lawsuit in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California in March, alleging abuse by coach John Rembao in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

They want the case to become a class action lawsuit with NCAA student-athletes, both male and female, from as far back as 1992, according to a report published on Law.com and Texas Lawyer, two online legal news publications.

The class could be a large one. The NCAA itself says nearly half a million student-athletes compete for 1,098 schools in 24 sports every year under its purview.

Rembao, a former head coach at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, and assistant coach at Texas, Arizona, Stanford and at Cal Poly/SLO, was placed on temporary suspension for allegations of misconduct by the U.S. Center for SafeSport in December, according to a news report by the San Jose Mercury News.

“Rather than create a system that requires member institutions to report coaches who are perpetrators to the NCAA, the NCAA has created a system that permits the perpetrators to move unchecked among schools, prioritizing the protection of athletic revenue, alumni donations, and tuition that schools receive at the expense of student-athletes,” the Mercury News quotes the lawsuit as saying.

NCAA Rejects Claims

In its formal response to the NCAA sexual assault lawsuit, the NCAA’s legal team argues the “all the athletes’ negligence claims are invalid because the NCAA has no legal duty to them, and all their contract claims are invalid because there’s no contract between athletes and the organization,” Law 360, a national legal news provider, reports.

Also, the lawsuit’s claim “that the NCAA is vicariously liable for Rembao’s conduct are deficient because Rembao was not the NCAA’s agent and even if he was, the alleged abuse was outside the scope of his employment,” the Mercury News quotes the NCAA’s filing as saying.

Suit Cites Damage from Alleged Abuse

The three plaintiffs in the NCAA sexual assault lawsuit say they suffered significant damage from the abuse they allege Rembao put them through.

Aldrich claims Rembao sexually abused her while she attended Arizona and sexually harassed her while he coached her at Texas. Johnson and Bevins allege Rembao sexually abused and harassed them at Texas, which led to them giving up their scholarships there and transferring to Arkansas.

The suit claims Johnson suffered depression, an eating disorder and panic attacks as a result of her encounters with Rembao. Bevins and Aldrich said they also suffer from depression related to the alleged sexual abuse.

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