Banned volleyball coach Rick Butler has asked an Illinois federal judge to reject class action certification in a civil lawsuit brought against him by a woman, Laura Mullen, that claims violations of the Illinois Physical Fitness Services Act and the illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act.
Specifically, Mullen, whose daughter was a member of the Sports Performance Volleyball Club, says that the club falsely advertised itself as a safe environment.
Butler has been alleged to have abused a number of underage players as early as the mid 1980s. Butler was allowed to continue coaching, though only boys, until early this year, when he was finally banned by USA Volleyball. The AAU and the JVA followed suit.
Butler’s argument is that the class-action suit is ‘too broad’ and ‘unmanageable,’ according to Law360.com, because it includes everyone who paid money to GLV Inc., which runs the club, between February 2013 and January 2018. Butler argues that the class potentially includes people who never interacted with Butler, and that Mullen cannot represent the other members of the proposed class who participated in certain programs in which her daughter did not.
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