The number of former North Carolina State student-athletes alleging university officials failed to protect them from the sexual abuse of an athletic trainer has grown to 14 men.
As reported by The News & Observer of Raleigh, a new lawsuit filed Wednesday afternoon, the fourth to allege the abuse, claims that former athletic director Debbie Yow was aware of multiple complaints about the head athletic trainer long before his resignation.
Per the reporting of Virginia Bridges, the claims are among the latest developments in an ongoing legal battle that began in 2022, when former soccer player Benjamin Locke filed a federal lawsuit. It accused Yow and other N.C. State leaders of not protecting him and other athletes from sexual abuse and harassment by longtime sports medicine director Robert Murphy. Two more athletes filed similar suits in 2023.
Related: Appeals Court Allows Former Soccer Player's Harassment Suit Against NCSU
All of the 14 former athletes now signed onto the civil lawsuit received scholarships, and most of them played professional sports after leaving N.C. State, the lawsuit says, as reported by The News & Observer. They allege the abuse spanned a period from 2012 to 2021.
A culture of fear in the athletics department led to “this tragic set of circumstances,” said attorney Kerry Sutton.
“Athletes afraid of losing their scholarship or their spot on the team, trainers afraid of reporting their boss, coaches afraid of getting involved, directors afraid of harming NCSU’s reputation,” Sutton said in a statement, as reported by The News & Observer. “Murphy took advantage of those fears to get away with abusing what we believe may turn out to be hundreds of former Wolfpack athletes.”
The men accuse Murphy of touching their buttocks and genitals during massages, putting his hand down their shorts to touch areas of that hadn't been injured or experiencing pain, as well as engaging in harassing behavior while he collected urine samples for drug testing.
Murphy’s license to practice athletic training in North Carolina was permanently revoked in 2023, according to Bridges.
In a written statement, attorney Seth Blum said that after three years of representing Murphy, there hasn’t been “one scrap of credible evidence that he assaulted anyone.”
“He is a talented professional who has been targeted as an early victim in the new frontier of mass torts: suing universities for spurious allegations of sexual assault," Blum added, as reported by Bridges of The News & Observer. "Put simply, Robert Murphy did not do this.”
University attorneys have vigorously challenged the allegations in court filings, Bridges reported. They contend that Murphy’s reported behavior wasn’t concerning enough to merit an investigation, and the people with the authority to take action weren’t told.
