Multiple people and organizations involved with a suburban Chicago figure skating program in Darien are facing a lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims a young skater was sexually assaulted by her coach and that more should have been done to protect her.
A 47-page civil lawsuit filed this week claims a former figure skating coach who worked out of the Darien Park District's Sportsplex sexually assaulted a young girl he was training.
Attorneys for the girl said she was a member of the MA Figure Skating Academy, which rented space at the facility. The girl alleges the inappropriate contact happened several times between 2016 and 2018.
"It is going to be something she deals with now and for rest of her life – emotionally," said her attorney Allyson West of Hale & Monico. “We have named several individuals, including coaches and [the] skating entity that employed the coaches, as well as Sportsplex where it happened."
"We feel like there should have been proper policies and procedures in place to ensure that this didn't happen," West said, "so the parents are entrusting individuals and this facility with their child, essentially, and hope that they ensure her safety and prevent this from happening to them."
The girl's parents filed a police report in 2021, but no criminal charges were filed against the coach, which is why NBC Chicago is not naming him.
Local
The DuPage County State's Attorney's Office told NBC Chicago in a statement: "Following a thorough investigation into these allegations, the decision was made not to pursue criminal charges as we would not be able to meet our burden of guilty beyond a reasonable doubt."
The family is seeking monetary damages, but attorneys also said they want to know if there are other victims out there.
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NBC Chicago reached out to MA Figure Skating Academy and other plaintiffs named in the lawsuit but didn’t hear back.
An attorney for the Darien Park District told NBC Chicago in a statement that it only recently had been made aware of the lawsuit and will be reviewing the allegations.
