WILLIAMSPORT – A federal judge has dismissed without opposition the remaining claims in a suit in which a North Carolina fencing club owner accused Penn State and two coaches of trying to cover up a sexual misconduct incident.
The decision Tuesday by U.S. Middle District Judge Matthew W. Brann paves the way for Jennifer Oldham to file an appeal with the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.
Her suit stemmed from an incident on an airplane in 2017 involving then Penn State assistant fencing coach George G. Abashidze.
Brann in May dismissed the suit but gave Oldham the opportunity to file an amended complaint just on her defamation and negligent supervision claims. She chose not to but pursue an appeal.
The judge alerted Oldham she likely will have to file a new appeal because the one based on his May decision was premature.
Appeals will not be accepted until there is a final decision that Brann explained did not occur until his Tuesday order.
The basis of Oldham’s suit was a Dec. 12, 2017, incident when she was seated next to Abashidze on a flight from Portland, Oregon, to Chicago.
She accused him of making numerous, unwelcome lewd comments to her, inappropriately touching her and then somewhere over the Great Plains sexually assaulting her.
The results of an investigation by Penn State determined the allegations of assault and harassment were true but that Abashidze had not violated any university policy.
He was fired March 4, 2019, after being banned from USA Fencing activities for three years because of his conduct. He had been with the Penn State program for 10 years.
Missing from the report on Penn State’s investigation was a mention that head coach Wieslaw R. Glon, also a defendant, after being told of the incident, failed to report it to the university, Oldham claimed.
She provided Glon during a fencing competition at Duke University in February 2018 a written summary and details of the sexual assault. He told her he was not going to report it to Penn State, court documents state.
Reasons that Brann gave in May for dismissing the suit included Oldham did not have any direct connection with the university or its fencing program and she failed to timely raise certain allegations.
Glon and Christopher J. Harris, the university’s Title IX coordinator, were defendants along with the university and Abashidze.
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