INDIANAPOLIS (Legal Newsline) – Indiana State University has defeated a lawsuit from a former volleyball player who was taped in the locker room.
On Aug. 10, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled against Shannon Murphy, a member of ISU’s 2016 volleyball team that was secretly recorded by the husband of a teammate. His cameras recorded the team changing their clothing – videos that were later distributed.
Though the offender, Nick Pledger, pleaded guilty to felony voyeurism, Murphy also sought justice against the school.
Murphy filed paperwork with the state Attorney General’s office to bring notice of her lawsuit, but ISU argued it is not a state agency and that it was not provided the proper notice under the Tort Claims Act.
Murphy argued ISU had substantial notice, considering it was aware of the recordings, investigated them and notified the victims of Pledger.
“The investigation into Pledger’s actions, however, differs from the investigation ISU would undertake to determine a defense to a negligence action,” the court ruled. “(W)e cannot conclude that ISU’s knowledge of the incident and investigation into Pledger’s criminal actions amount to substantial compliance that was sufficient to satisfy the requirement of notice.”
The court also ruled the notice to the AG’s office was ineffective because the AG was not an agent of ISU.
“Murphy’s notice, which was provided to the wrong entity, did not satisfy the purpose of the notice requirements,” the court ruled.
“Although the facts of this case are appalling and no doubt continue to substantially impact Murphy, the notice requirements of Indiana Code Section 34-13-3-8 and the cases interpreting the Tort Claims Act require us to conclude the trial court properly granted ISU’s motion for summary judgment based on the record before us.”
The court wrote that Pledger apparently obtained the access code for the locker room from his wife so he could retrieve a teammate’s forgotten jersey and take it to an away game. He then used the code later to place videos in the locker room.
Murphy alleged ISU was negligent in the management and security of the locker room.