Mullen v. GLV, Inc.

• Decision Date: 20 September 2020
• Docket Number: Case No. 18 C 1465
• Citation: 488 F.Supp.3d 695
• Parties: Laura MULLEN, individually and on behalf of others similarly situated, Plaintiff, v. GLV, INC., Rick Butler, and Cheryl Butler, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois

488 F.Supp.3d 695

Laura MULLEN, individually and on behalf of others similarly situated, Plaintiff,

v.GLV, INC., Rick Butler, and Cheryl Butler, Defendants.

Case No. 18 C 1465

United States District Court, N.D. Illinois, Eastern Division.

Signed September 20, 2020

Alfred Kirkland Murray, II, J. Eli Wade Scott, Jay Edelson, Christopher Lillard Dore, Edelson PC, Eve-Lynn J. Rapp, Ryan D. Andrews, Edelson P.C., Sydney M. Janzen, Chicago, IL, for Plaintiff.

Danielle D'Ambrose, D'Ambrose P.C., Chicago, IL, for Defendants.

AMENDED MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

MATTHEW F. KENNELLY, District Judge:

Between 2013 and 2017, Laura Mullen enrolled her two daughters in volleyball training programs offered by GLV, Inc., a youth sports club in Illinois. She has sued GLV and its owners, Rick and Cheryl Butler, on behalf of a class of similarly situated persons, alleging that the defendants fraudulently concealed and misrepresented Rick Butler's history of sexual abuse of several girls he coached in the 1980s. Mullen contends that she and other class members would not have enrolled their children in GLV's programs had they known about this abuse. The defendants have moved for summary judgment on all claims.

Factual Background

GLV, Inc. is an Illinois volleyball club that offers training programs and camps for youth athletes. It has a reputation for helping its players land elite college volleyball scholarships and placements. GLV's founder and owner, Rick Butler, is a coach on its staff. His wife, Cheryl Butler, manages the business. To avoid confusion, this opinion refers to the Butlers by their first names.

In the mid-1990s, Rick's former business partner reported to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) that Rick had sexually abused several youth athletes he coached in the 1980s. DCFS investigated and held a hearing on these allegations. In 1995, it issued a decision finding that Rick had sexual relationships with underage volleyball athletes and that his conduct constituted child abuse.

That same year, the Ethics and Eligibility Committee for USA Volleyball (USAV), the national governing body for the sport, also held a hearing on allegations of Rick's sexual abuse of girls. The USAV Committee issued a decision finding that Rick had unprotected sexual intercourse with two sixteen-year-old females and one seventeen-year-old female, while coaching them, starting in 1981, 1984, and 1987, respectively. Based on these findings, the Committee banned Rick from USAV for life.

News outlets nationwide reported the DCFS and USAV decisions against Rick and detailed his accusers’ allegations of sexual abuse. Several of these articles were also posted online, including a 1995 Los Angeles Times article, a 1996 article in Chicago magazine, and a 1996 article in The Spokesman-Review , a publication based in Washington state.

In 2000, USAV granted Butler a conditional membership that required him to commit, in writing, not to coach underage girls at any USAV-sanctioned lessons, events, programs, or clubs. That restriction did not apply, however, to volleyball events or programs that were not sponsored by USAV. Rick continued to coach youth volleyball and is currently a master coach at GLV.

Even after Rick received his conditional membership from USAV in 2000, national media outlets continued to report on his history of sexual abuse. For example, a 2001 episode of the ESPN television show Outside the Lines covered the allegations against Rick and featured an interview with one of Rick's accusers.

Between 2013 and 2017, Mullen—the representative of the plaintiff class and the only named plaintiff in this suit—enrolled her two underage daughters in several of GLV's programs. In her interrogatory answers and an affidavit, Mullen stated the following. She paid thousands of dollars to GLV for youth volleyball instruction. Sometime between 2012 and 2013—prior to enrolling her daughters in the programs—Mullen reviewed GLV's website and Facebook page, which represented that it offered "the finest coaching, teaching, and training," had "extremely qualified staff," and was "superior to [its] competitors." Around that time, Mullen also met with a GLV coach and recruiting coordinator, Erik Vogt, who made similar representations about GLV's programs. According to Mullen, the defendants did not at that time disclose Rick's history of sexually abusing underage girls.

Meanwhile, the reporting on Rick's past abuse and the related DCFS and USAV findings against him continued. In July 2015, an article in the Outside the Lines section of ESPN.com reported on the DCFS and USAV decisions and noted that Rick had been banned from coaching by USAV. It included links to the DCFS decision and to other news stories discussing Rick's sexual abuse of young girls.

The day ESPN issued the article, a user on the web forum Volleytalk started a thread titled "Rick Butler on Outside The Lines" and posted a link to it. In the following days, several other users commented on this thread and posted links to many other news articles about Rick's sexual abuse of youth volleyball players. Less than two weeks later, Mullen commented on this thread to note that GLV's programs were more cost effective than other programs in the area. She subsequently enrolled both of her daughters in GLV's programs for the 2015-16 season.

A year later, in July 2016, the New York Daily News published an online article reporting the stories of several of the women who had been abused by Rick and noting that despite the USAV's lifetime ban, Rick continued to coach youth volleyball. The day after the article issued, a Volleytalk user posted a link to it on a new thread titled "Yet Another Alleged Abuse by Rick Butler (NEW)." Mullen also commented on this new thread, stating that she viewed one of Rick's victim's allegations "with a bit of skepticism." Ex. R, Defs.’ L.R. 56.1 Stmt., dkt. no. 144-19, at 2. In September 2016, Mullen sent the defendants a testimonial about her experience with GLV's programs, noting that she believed that her "money and [daughters’] time are both well spent." Ex. K, Defs.’ L.R. 56.1 Stmt., dkt. no. 144-12, at 7.

Mullen enrolled both of her daughters in GLV's programs for the 2016-17 volleyball season. Before the volleyball season ended, however, Mullen pulled them out of the programs. She contends that Rick had verbally and emotionally abused her elder daughter.

In February 2018, Mullen filed this suit, claiming that Rick, Cheryl, and GLV fraudulently concealed and misrepresented Rick's history of sexual abuse. Although Mullen concedes that, between 2015 and 2017, she was generally aware of the allegations regarding sexual abuse by Rick and had reviewed news articles on the subject, she maintains that she did not learn "the full extent" of Rick's abuse until after she pulled her daughters out of GLV programs in 2017. Ex. 15, Pls.’ Resp. to Defs.’ L.R. 56.1 Stmt., dkt. no. 171-19, at 3.

In the summer of 2018, after filing this lawsuit, Mullen enrolled her younger daughter in one of GLV's summer programs, which took place at a facility where Rick had an office.

Procedural Background

On behalf of herself and others similarly situated, Mullen brought this action against GLV, Inc., Rick, and Cheryl, asserting claims of fraudulent misrepresentation and concealment and violations of the Illinois Physical Fitness Services Act (IPFSA) and the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Practices Act (ICFA). In January 2019, the Court certified a class of plaintiffs including "all individuals who paid money to the defendants for youth volleyball instruction through the Sports Performance program provided by or through GLV, Inc. in the State of Illinois between February 27, 2013 and January 10, 2018." Mullen v. GLV, Inc. , 330 F.R.D. 155, 168 (N.D. Ill. 2019). In February 2019, the class notice was distributed, and the opt-out period closed in April 2019.

Discussion

The defendants have moved for summary judgment on all of the plaintiffs’ claims. Summary judgment is appropriate if, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, there is no genuine dispute regarding any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a) ; United States v. Luce , 873 F.3d 999, 1005 (7th Cir. 2017). This does not require the Court to "draw every conceivable inference" in favor of the nonmoving party—only reasonable inferences. Id. Finally, at the summary judgment stage, the Court does not make credibility determinations or weigh the evidence; those are tasks for a factfinder. See Johnson v. Advocate Health & Hosps. Corp. , 892 F.3d 887, 893 (7th Cir. 2018).

The Court wishes to make clear at the outset of its discussion of the defendants’ motion that in deciding the motion, the Court is not called upon to determine whether the allegations of sexual abuse by Rick Butler are true or false. After moving for summary judgment before the close of discovery, the defendants persuaded the Court to stay further discovery—in particular, discovery regarding the truth or falsity of the sexual abuse allegations—because their motion did not implicate the veracity of these allegations. As a result, there is no basis in the record upon which the Court can make a judgment one way or the other about the allegations of sexual abuse. Nothing in this decision should be construed as indicating a judgment by the Court on whether the allegations of sexual abuse by Rick Butler of girls he was coaching are true or false.

A. Standing

Before the Court can review the sufficiency of the evidence on Mullen's claims, it must address the jurisdictional issue of standing. Standing is "an essential and unchanging part of the case-or-controversy requirement of Article III" of the Constitution. Keep Chi. Livable v. City of Chicago , 913 F.3d 618, 622 (7th Cir. 2019) (quoting Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife , 504 U.S. 555, 560, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 119 L.Ed.2d 351 (1992) ). Article...