The family of a woman who committed suicide after two years of alleged harassment by a former Jacksonville University track coach has filed a lawsuit against the school and the coach, claiming that officials knew of the harassment but did nothing.
Julia Pernsteiner was a college athlete with several disabilities that affected her reading, writing, and learning skills. She was also a member of the school’s track department. But in the lawsuit filed on Feb. 3 in Duval County, Florida.
Pernsteiner’s family said the student was constantly “fat-shamed” and called other names by now ex-track coach Ron Grigg. She was eventually thrown off the track team without reason given. The harassment and loss of her spot on the team, they feel, led to her suicide in Nov. of 2021, Fox News reported.
Julia Pernsteiner/Court Docs
The lawsuit cites other members of the team who say Grigg harassed the girl repeatedly.
“Teammates recall (track coach) Ron Grigg taking a special satisfaction in humiliating Julia, referring to her as ‘retarded,’ ‘the slowest f—ing runner on the team’ and unable to ‘wipe your own a–’” the filing states.
The family also says that other team members suffered similar harassment at the hands of the coach. The lawsuit claims Grigg was “oppressive, threatening, bullying, condescending and demeaning to many of the young women on the team.”
Griggs threw Pernsteiner off the team in Sept. of 2021 without stating a cause for the dismissal.
The lawsuit contains emails from Pernsteiner to the school’s athletic director asking for help and noting that she “relies on the athletic academic help to do well” due to her cognitive disabilities. In the emails, Pernsteiner pleaded for help with returning to the team.
“I’m a walk-on, so it’s not about the money,” Pernsteiner wrote. “I just don’t know where to go from here. I would like to stay and work on improving my grades. I just am not able to do it myself. I’m looking for advice on how to proceed.”
The lawsuit then alleges that no one in the school’s athletic department bothered to reply to the plaintive emails asking for help. Pernsteiner then reportedly spiraled into depression and even sought help from the Mayo Clinic, the Safe Sport Helpline, and the Women’s Center for help, but all to no avail.
Julia Pernsteiner/Court Docs
The young woman committed suicide in her dorm room on Nov. 8, 2021.
“For 22 months prior to her death, Julia suffered pain, mental anguish, panic attacks, fear, and depression,” the lawsuit insists.
After her death, the school told Pernsteiner’s family that an investigation would be conducted to determine why the young woman killed herself. But the family says in the filing that nothing was done and no results of any investigation were forthcoming. But suddenly, in July of 2022, Grigg resigned from his coaching position.
The family accuses the school of knowing everything from the beginning but doing nothing about Grigg’s behavior. “Despite knowledge of Grigg’s outrageous and illegal behavior toward women on his teams, (Jacksonville University) acquiesced and condoned that conduct as long as Grigg was coaching winning teams,” the lawsuit states.
After Grigg’s resignation, the school noted that it would require coaches to undergo more training.
“All of our coaches and staff also will complete additional mandatory training involving mental health issues… including body image, nutrition, bullying and building a healthy, supportive team culture,” the school said in a statement at the time.
The school also responded to the lawsuit: “The students, faculty, and staff of Jacksonville University continue to mourn Julia’s tragic death and we sympathize with the Pernsteiner family for their loss. Per University policy, we do not comment on pending litigation.”
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