Judge dismisses lawsuit by 31 former NC State athletes alleging abuse, misconduct by ex-head trainer

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A state judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by 31 former N.C. State male athletes alleging sexual abuse under the guise of treatment and harassment by the Wolfpack’s former director of sports medicine.

In orders filed Tuesday, Wake County Superior Court Judge Bryan Collins dismissed claims against Robert M. Murphy Jr., as well as multiple N.C. State athletics officials tied to their oversight rules, citing procedural reasons.

The lawsuit was filed in February in state court in a case that began with a federal lawsuit from a single athlete filed in 2022. That complaint alleged years of misconduct by Murphy, including improper touching of the genitals during massages and intrusive observation while collecting urine samples during drug testing.

Collins granted the motion seeking a dismissal from Murphy’s attorneys, ruling that the statute of limitations had expired in claims dating back as early as 2013.

Collins also dismissed claims against multiple athletics officials such as former athletic director Debbie Yow and current AD Boo Corrigan on jurisdictional grounds. His ruling stated any complaint should go through the North Carolina Industrial Commission — a state agency that deals with workplace matters with N.C. State as a public university — rather than civil court.

Jared Hammett, a Raleigh-based attorney representing Murphy, issued a statement to The Associated Press describing his client as “someone who dedicated his life to working with athletes” while referring to a “rush to judgment” that can impact “real people’s lives.”

“The truth is nothing happened but a man’s career being ruined for money,” Hammett said. “As a lawyer I am just glad that we have been able to help another person who needed support and found himself needing that defense.”

Durham-based attorney Kerry Sutton, who has represented players going back to the original case, said the athletes plan to appeal.

“This dismissal has nothing at all to do with Mr. Murphy’s sexual abuse of these 31 former student-athletes,” Sutton said in a statement to the AP. “It was decided based only on questions of legal procedure. We plan to appeal this outcome and in coming days will be adding new claims against NCSU for men who have recently come forward.”

All but two of the 31 athletes are “John Doe” plaintiffs to protect anonymity, while two former men’s soccer players are named.

One is Benjamin Locke, who filed the original complaint in August 2022. The other is one of two athletes who filed their own federal lawsuits in February 2023 and April 2023. The AP typically doesn’t identify those who say they have been sexually assaulted or abused unless the person has spoken publicly about it, which Locke has done.

Sutton, who has represented plaintiffs in each lawsuit, filed to dismiss those pending Title IX lawsuits before moving the case to state-level jurisdiction in September 2025.

Murphy, at N.C. State from 2012-22, was among nine defendants originally named individually. Others were school officials accused of negligence in oversight roles, saying concerns about Murphy’s conduct reached senior levels of the athletic department but the school’s response was insufficient.

Sutton and co-counsel Robert O. Jenkins filed in April to dismiss former N.C. State chancellor Randy Woodson as a defendant.

“N.C. State does not condone sexual misconduct of any kind,” the school said in a statement Tuesday evening. “The health and safety of our students and student-athletes is paramount to the university and our athletic programs.

“We agree with the court’s analysis and the decision that the law supports dismissal of the plaintiffs’ claims in this case. We recognize the immense courage it takes for someone to come forward, and our hearts go out to any student or student-athlete who has been impacted by distressing experiences.”

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