CHICAGO (AP) – A prominent suburban Chicago volleyball coach wants a judge to dismiss a novel lawsuit claiming he broke consumer fraud laws by not telling young athletes he trained recently about decades-old allegations he’d sexually abused several girls in the 1980s.
Rick Butler’s lawyers filed the motion in Chicago federal court late Monday. It argues plaintiff Laura Mullen, whose two daughters were coached by Butler, sought to “make headlines” off “slanderous … and unsubstantiated” allegations from the past. It says she showed no harm to her kids at Butlers’ Aurora-based training facilities.
An Illinois agency in 1995 found no evidence supporting Butler’s assertion that three accusers who came forward that year were lying.
Mullen doesn’t allege Butler sexually abused her daughters, contending the abuse was verbal and emotional. Her lawyer, Jay Edelson, said Monday’s motion relied on “empty rhetoric” and “misapprehension” of basic law.
