UPDATE: Ex-Penn State player cites James Franklin’s words in most recent filing connected to hazing lawsuit
WILLIAMSPORT – A Penn State football player accused of sexually hazing a teammate in 2018 denies the conduct occurred.
Damion Barber, a reserve defensive tackle from Harrisburg, in a filing Tuesday night in U.S. Middle District Court denies he acted in any unlawful way toward Isaiah Humphries.
Humphries, who transferred to the University of California after the 2018 season, has sued Penn State, head football coach James Franklin and Barber.
The university and Franklin, in a separate filing Wednesday, asked Judge Matthew W. Brann to dismiss Humphries’ negligence claims against them.
Humphries claims they permitted him to be the subject of harassment and hazing by other players, in disregard of the university’s written anti-hazing policy.
He alleges linebackers Micah Parsons and Jesse Luketa and defensive end Yetur Gross-Matos conspired with Barber to sexually harass him and other players in the Lasch Building.
Parsons, Luketa and Gross-Matos are not defendants in the suit, which seeks unspecified damages.
In response to the suit, Barber denied he or the others ever “orchestrated, participated in, directed and/or facilitated a campaign to harass and haze” anyone.
He further claims he was not aware of, witnessed or participated in an initiation to become or remain a member of the team as Humphries alleges.
Barber admits he was charged with violating the harassment clause of Student Code of Conduct but said Humphries was not the victim. He was not found to have committed any act of hazing, he said.
In seeking dismissal of the negligence claims, Penn State and Franklin contend they fail because:
- Courts have ruled universities, absent of exceptional circumstances not present in this case, do not owe adult students a duty of care.
- Humphries cannot demonstrate he was subjected to hazing as defined by the Pennsylvania Anti-hazing Law or its successor, the Timothy J. Piazza Anti-Hazing Law.
- Since there is no dispute the university and Franklin did not perpetrate the alleged harassment, at most Humphries can claim is they failed to stop it. The anti-hazing laws impose no such duty.
Humphries alleges in early January 2018 that four of his teammates orchestrated a campaign to harass and haze other members by threats of sexual assault, stealing clothes, simulating humping action and placing their genitals on their faces and buttocks.
“His implausible theory” is not statutory hazing because freshmen cannot haze upperclassmen for the purpose of admission to or affiliation with the football team, Penn State and Franklin claim.
They also note Humphries’ suit does not state the dates on which the alleged conduct occurred or to which member of the coaching staff it was reported.
The negligent infliction of emotional distress claim should be dismissed because they say Humphries has failed to assert he suffered any physical injury as the result of the purported emotional distress.
Penn State and Franklin raised similar arguments in seeking dismissal of Humphries’ original suit. Humphries filing an amended complaint made that motion moot.
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