Lawsuits against Rowing Coaches

[crewu]

Could it happen to you? These are currently active cases against rowing coaches (except SMU)

Abuse and Wrongful Death Lawsuit
UC San Diego / Coach Geoff Bond: A prominent wrongful death and Title IX lawsuit filed by the parents of a UC San Diego rower who died by suicide alleges that men's rowing coach Geoff Bond subjected athletes to severe verbal abuse and bullying. A federal judge allowed the core Title IX "deliberate indifference" and negligence claims against the UC Regents to proceed, advancing the litigation.
Discrimination and Civil Rights

Sacramento State / Capital Crew: A discrimination lawsuit was filed in August 2026 on behalf of a young transgender athlete against coaches and Sacramento State leaders connected to the Capital Crew youth competitive rowing program. The suit seeks reinstatement to the women's rowing program, the firing of specific program leaders, and compensatory damages.

Southern Methodist University (SMU): SMU successfully defended against a multi-plaintiff negligence and civil rights lawsuit brought by former women's rowers who claimed they sustained severe hip injuries during their time on the team. The federal appeals court reaffirmed that SMU was entitled to recover legal costs after prevailing in the dispute.

Sienna Byrne V Princeton University & Lori Dauphiny:
Sienna Byrne’s personal injury lawsuit against Princeton University and rowing coach Lori Dauphiny remains active in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Mercer County. No final trial verdict or public settlement has been officially recorded on the docket. Background of the Case - The Incident: Sienna Byrne, a former Princeton lightweight rower, filed the tort/personal injury lawsuit (MER-L-001785-23) on September 18, 2023. The Allegations: The suit stems from a serious accident on March 20, 2023, when Byrne suffered a traumatic brain injury and other severe physical harms after, according to the lawsuit, Princeton rowing coach Lori Dauphiny was driving the motorboat that struck former rower Sienna Byrne. The complaint alleges the vessel was operated in a reckless manner, crossing over safety buoys during a practice session on March 20, 2023. a speeding motorboat crashed head-on into her rowing team's shell during practice. The Defendants: The complaint names Princeton University, head women's lightweight rowing coach Lori Dauphiny, and various unnamed entities or individuals, represented by the firm Nagel Rice, LLP.Current StatusIn

[crewu]

I think the future will likely bring a multitude of class action law suits in our sport from hip, rib, and back injuries and the mental side effects that come with physical injuries from overtraining by coaches.

[sandor]

https://www.hbsslaw.com/the-leader-in-ncaa-litigation

https://www.collegesportslitigationtracker.com/tracker

https://www.npr.org/2022/11/23/11388605 ... otball-pla
https://sportslitigationalert.com/jury- ... sion-case/
https://www.theindianalawyer.com/articl ... njury-case
https://www.espn.com/college-football/s ... on-lawsuit
https://shraderlaw.com/blog/cte-head-in ... e-verdict/

It will be interesting, but in the realm of NCAA sports, rowing is hardly the worst on the human body.

Assumption of risk is the baseline, so proving gross negligence or medical malpractice is the bar.
State schools also generally have sovereign immunity.

Part of the concussion class-action settlement was also, if i remember correctly, a ban on NCAA athletes being able to bring class-action suits.

[Norm]

Sports med and strength staffs are not immune to these suits. If you can find the data, throw those in too.

[sandor]

Sports med and strength staffs are not immune to these suits. If you can find the data, throw those in too.

One thing you will 100% see with that group (specifically the medical group) is a dramatic increase in the malpractice coverage.
With NIL you can now have millions of dollars of lost wages to consider, and the $500,000 or $1 million policies won't be close to enough - i wouldn't be surprised to see the yearly *premiums* approaching $1,000,000.

I think there will be a dramatic change in 3rd party/private practices being the team orthopedics, etc for colleges - the liability will just get too much.

Then there will be the increase in cost of care - the volume of MRI/CAT scans done is already increasing rapidly, and, mostly for medical-legal reasons, you could easily see a push from physicians to upgrade to 3T or 7T MRI machines, simply because the risk of a lawyer finding a contrary opinion saying "i would have done state of the art imaging, not the "old" stuff prior to releasing the athlete for full involvement."


Medical Malpractice and the Sports Medicine Clinician
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2628504/

Medicolegal Sidebar: Taking Care of Professional Athletes—Is It Worth the Risk?
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11469809/