Attorneys representing a group of women who allege they were sexually abused by former U.S. Olympic and national team physician Larry Nassar have filed an objection to world champion Terin Humphrey’s motion to be included in civil claims against USA Gymnastics.
Committee of Sexual Abuse Survivors attorneys asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Indiana to reject Humphrey’s move to be included in part of a potential settlement with USA Gymnastics because she missed the filing deadline, otherwise known as the bar date. Attorneys for the committee also asked the court to reject a similar motion by unnamed survivor from Michigan.
Humphrey, a two-time Olympic medalist, alleged in an exclusive interview with the Southern California News Group last month that Nassar sexually assaulted her on consecutive days under the guise of medical treatment in July 2002 when she was 15. She filed a motion with the bankruptcy court to register as a Nassar survivor on July 30.
USA Gymnastics, facing decertification by the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and civil suits involving more than 500 alleged Nassar survivors, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December 2018.
On February 25, 2019, the judge in the case set April 29, 2019 as “the bar date for individuals to file claims arising from sexual abuse.”
“At this stage of this chapter 11 case, it would be irresponsible to allow additional claims to be asserted against the USA Gymnastics,” James I. Stang and Meredith R. Theisen, attorneys for the committee, wrote in their objection. “This case has been widely reported in the general media, as well as sports and gymnastics focused media. The bar date was widely noticed and publicized. As such, there is no basis for a finding of excusable neglect to allow claims to be filed sixteen months after the bar date.”
USA Gymnastics in February proposed a settlement agreement that would pay the 500-plus Nassar survivors $217 million, but also would release the USOPC, former USA Gymnastics CEO Steve Penny, former U.S. National team coach Don Peters, former national team directors Bela and Martha Karolyi, 2012 Olympic coach John Geddert and others from “any and all claims arising from or related to Abuse Claims or Future Claims.”
Nassar is alleged to have sexually assaulted more than 500 women as U.S. Olympic and national team physician, and while working at Michigan State University and gymnastics clubs in the Lansing area. He is serving a 60-year sentence in federal prison after pleading guilty to child pornography charges in 2017. He also pleaded guilty in 2018 to a total of 10 sexual assault charges in two Michigan state cases.
While Humphrey, later an NCAA champion at Alabama, served as an athlete representative for USA Gymnastics between 2009 and 2019 and member of the Olympic and World Championships teams selection committee and continued to have an uneasy feeling around Nassar, she did not come to terms with her sexual assault until memories of the abuse were triggered by treatment for her pregnancy last year, according to Humphrey and a sworn statement under penalty of perjury by psychiatrist who examined her earlier this month. Humphrey said she was unable to even tell her husband, Uriah Holcomb, about the abuse until June.
“The more I went to the doctors (for her pregnancy), the more I was having issues” with recollections of Nassar, Humphrey said. “The more trouble I had, the more I felt like my puzzle pieces were coming together and I just remember when I had my pelvic exams I remember seeing Larry.”
Humphrey was removed as USA Gymnastics athlete representative in May 2019 following complaints that a post on social media endorsed abusive coaching and was insensitive.
“Ms. Humphrey admits (in her motion) that she ‘received notice of the Bankruptcy and or the opportunity to file a claim in the Bankruptcy prior to the Bar Date….’” Stang and Theisen wrote. “ She further states that she did not file a claim because she did not recall the details of her abuse at the time of the notice. [Id.] This admission is fatal to Ms. Humphrey’s Motion. After receiving notice of the Bar Date, the burden shifted to Ms. Humphrey to file a timely claim. She did not do so, and should not be permitted to do so at this time. Such delay was in Ms. Humphrey’s reasonable control.
“Ms. Humphrey was also a member of the (USA Gymnastics’) Athlete’s Council prior to and subsequent to the Bar Date. She was removed from the position due to a posting on Facebook that was insensitive and hurtful to gymnasts and other athletes, especially in light of the abuse suffered by survivors of abuse by coaches and others that led to (USA Gymnastics’) Chapter 11 filing. … Clearly, Ms. Humphrey was well aware of the Bar Date and the chapter 11 process due to her active participation as an athlete representative to (USA Gymnastics). Ms. Humphrey had a responsibility to come forward prior to the Bar Date, but failed to do so.”
Humphrey said she did not realize she was sexually assaulted by Nassar until memories of the alleged abuse were triggered by prenatal exams in the late spring and summer of 2019. She gave birth to her first child in January.
Humphrey was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder with delayed expression and major depressive disorder by Dr. Steven A. Elig, who conducted a 4 hour, 15 minute psychiatric examination of Humphrey on July 18, according to a sworn affidavit by Elig, provided to SCNG.
“It is my opinion to a reasonable degree of medical certainty that Ms. Humphrey meets psychiatric criteria for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder with delayed expression, as a direct result of her experience of child sexual abuse by Dr. Larry Nassar,” Elig wrote in the affidavit submitted with Humphrey’s filing to register as a Nassar survivor
Humphrey told Elig during the psychiatric exam that she experienced severe anxiety during pelvic exams and that her level of anxiety escalated during childbirth.
“I felt helpless and overwhelmed because people were staring at me (my genitals) and examining me, especially when the male doctor, not my usual doctor, did it,” Humphrey said according to Elig’s affidavit.
Elig said in the declaration that “these events reminded her directly of her confusion and embarrassment when being examined by Dr. Larry Nassar. Further reminders immediately followed when she needed physical therapy for pelvic/back pain caused by childbirth with a previous spinal injury. She ended treatment prematurely because she could not endure it any longer, prolonging her physical pain.”
Like Humphrey, most of the Nassar survivors did not recognize that they had been sexually assaulted until years, even decades later.
“There is no doubt that Terin knew about the allegations of abuse made by others regarding Nassar as well as the civil action and subsequent bankruptcy proceeding,” Robert Allard, Humphrey’s attorney, said in an email. “However, they have offered absolutely no evidence to refute that the realization that she had been sexually abused did not come until the birth of her child earlier this year. Nor have they refuted accepted medical literature establishing that it is not uncommon for sex abuse victims to come to grips with their abuse until years or even decades after being abused. With that being said, how is she supposed to come forward with a claim when she did not even know that she had a basis to do so? Do they expect Terin to invoke some supernatural power to tell her that she was abused? “
In asking the court to reject the motions by Humphrey and the unnamed gymnast, Stang and Theisen wrote “There is also a risk of opening the floodgates to additional claims if any late claims are treated as timely at this late stage of the case, there is risk that additional survivors may come forward at this time. Based on negotiations, the Survivors’ Committee believes that allowing additional claims will reduce amounts available to pay survivors who filed timely claims prior to the start of mediation.”
“The fact that attorneys who profess to protect the rights of sex abuse victims would actually step forward and actively oppose this claim is hypocrisy at its finest,” Allard responded in the email. “I can only suspect that this all comes down to money as it gives the bankruptcy lawyers, who have already been paid an obscene amount of money, another opportunity to bill for even more fees. It also tells me that there certain people who want all the money being offered by USAG for themselves at the exclusion of a sex abuse victim who, like the others, was raped by a trusted doctor and has arguably given more to the sport of gymnastics than anyone else. I am beyond stunned. This is flat out unconscionable.”
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