Judge dismisses lawsuit alleging sex abuse by ex-IU doctor - ESPN

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit Tuesday against Indiana University in which former men's basketball players alleged improper sexual conduct by a former team physician because the players' complaint fell far beyond the two-year statute of limitations.

The Title IX lawsuit, filed in October 2024, alleged that university officials — including former head coach Bobby Knight, who died in 2023 — failed to stop alleged misconduct by former team physician Dr. Bradford Bomba despite evidence that they were aware of complaints about his behavior.

Bomba routinely gave male athletes rectal exams during physicals in the 1980s and '90s despite medical guidance at the time that did not recommend them for college-age men, which the lawsuit claims was sexual misconduct.

In an email sent from his attorney, plaintiff Haris Mujezinovic, who played for Indiana in the late 1990s, wrote, «We are disappointed in the Court's decision, but are taking time to weigh our options and make informed decisions about next steps.»

A spokesperson for the university did not respond to multiple messages from ESPN.

The players' attorneys had argued that their clients were within the state's two-year statute of limitations for reporting the alleged sexual abuse because they were not aware until 2024 that Bomba's actions constituted sexual abuse under Title IX, the federal gender equity law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in educational opportunities, including athletics.

In her order to dismiss the lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt of the Southern District of Indiana wrote that the players undermined their argument by stating that they knew, decades ago when they said the abuse occurred, that the alleged assaults were «widely known among