GREENVILLE, S.C. (Legal Newsline) - The godfather of competitive cheerleading remains embroiled in a lawsuit over alleged sexual abuse of cheerleaders at a South Carolina gym.
Federal judge Henry Herlong on June 26 refused to dismiss claims made against Jeff Webb, who founded several cheerleading associations and is the current president of the International Cheer Union, the world governing body.
He is one of the many defendants facing suit over abuse at the now-defunct Rockstar Cheer, which was run by Scott Foster. Seven women and two men say they were sexually abused by coaches there, and Foster killed himself when the allegations came to light last year.
Herlong has already allowed to continue claims against Varsity Spirit that it failed to identify and correct problems at Rockstar but dismissed claims against USA Cheer. The lawsuit alleges the defendants violated the Child Abuse Victims' Rights Act of 1986 and the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
As for Webb, Herlong wrote that more discovery is needed as to whether his court has jurisdiction over Webb on state-law claims, while finding it does have jurisdiction over the CAVRA and RICO federal claims.
"Both claims, however, are subject to dismissal... for failure to state a claim," Herlong wrote.
Herlong ruled the plaintiffs have stated a plausible claim against Webb for gross negligence but not civil conspiracy. Webb had argued that he did not owe the plaintiffs a duty or that if he did, he breached it.
The plaintiffs say Webb, as the architect of the competitive cheerleading industry, was responsible for their safety, health and welfare when they participated in U.S. All Star Federation and Varsity Spirit events.
"Plaintiffs state that Webb and other defendants knew of the 'dangers' posed by the competitive cheerleading environment and thus 'created rules specifically intended to address the risks of sexual, physical and mental exploitation of minor athletes by coaches and adults,'" Herlong wrote.
"Yet, despite that knowledge and those guidelines, Defendants (including Webb) allegedly failed to vet coaches, investigate and report sexual abuse complaints, and enforce rules related to 'chaperoning and supervis[ing] minors' and banning coaches.
"Based on these allegations, the court finds that Plaintiffs have sufficiently alleged that Webb owed them a duty based on the third and fourth exceptions to the general 'no duty to protect' rule."
Those exceptions concern negligent undertaking and the creation of a situation Webb knew or should have known posed a substantial risk of injury.
Foster shot himself on Aug. 22, having learned of an investigation by the Department of Homeland Security of allegations he was sexually abusing underage athletes, the suit says.
The complaint includes allegations Foster sent pictures of his penis to a 16-year-old boy who later felt obligated to perform oral sex on Foster. The rest of the allegations can be read here.
The account of one plaintiff reads:
"When the team arrived at the hotel the night before the competition, Plaintiff Jane Doe 3 recalls that multiple people stayed in a single room per Defendant Scott Foster’s arrangement.
"One such person assigned to stay in Plaintiff Jane Doe 3’s room was an adult coach who climbed into bed with Plaintiff Jane Doe 3 and groped and fondled her, and digitally penetrated her. She was 16 years old at the time.
"Thereafter Defendant Scott Foster arranged for Plaintiff Jane Doe 3 to receive a private lesson from the same coach. Instead of training, however, the other coach took Plaintiff Jane Doe 3 to his apartment, where he gave her alcohol and marijuana, before transporting Plaintiff Jane Doe 3 to a secondary location, where he raped her."