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Several former Indiana University basketball players are appealing a U.S. district court’s dismissal of a lawsuit filed against the university that accused officials there of doing nothing to stop what the students said was abuse by a former team physician.
The case will now move to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago, where three judges will review the district court’s findings.
In October 2024, two former IU players filed a complaint against the trustees of Indiana University stating that they were subjected to rectal exams by team physician Dr. Bradford Bomba Sr. while they played for IU in the late 1990s.
Only after the plaintiffs spoke with other former players and loved ones did they realize the exams constituted sexual abuse, according to court documents.
The plaintiffs filed claims in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana against IU under Title IX and against Bomba’s former supervisor, Tim Garl, under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Section 1983), arguing the defendants deprived them of their rights under the Fourteenth Amendment. Other players eventually joined the lawsuit,
They also filed claims against the parties under Indiana state law.
An independent review of the allegations by the law firm Jones Day determined Bomba did not act in bad faith or with improper purpose.
On March 31, U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Walton Pratt dismissed the plaintiffs’ federal claims with prejudice, stating they were barred by a two-year statute of limitations that Pratt said would have begun when the plaintiffs were students.
The plaintiffs are now appealing both their Title IX and Section 1983 to the Seventh Circuit.
“I continue to be amazed that Indiana University has not taken ownership of this problem like Michigan State, Penn State, and to some degree Ohio State did,” said plaintiff Haris Mujezinovic said in a press release announcing the appeal. “Nobody disputes what happened to us, yet they refuse to fix the problem.”
A spokesman for Indiana University did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“We are proud of our clients for their commitment and courage in continuing to seek justice from Indiana University and its former Head Athletic Trainer,” said Kathleen DeLaney of DeLaney & DeLaney LLC, who is representing the plaintiffs. “We have established through the discovery process that Dr. Bomba, Sr. performed a DRE during every preparticipation physical he administered to players for nearly three decades and that the University and Garl knew it was happening and did nothing to stop it.”
The case is Mujezinovic et al v. Trustees of Indiana University, Tim Garl, 1:24-cv-01827-TWP-MG.
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