NEW YORK, Dec. 22, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight filed a lawsuit against Colgate University. The Complaint alleges that Colgate ignored abuse by its women’s lacrosse coach Kathy Taylor, who overtrained student-athletes to the point of injury, harassed them, and forced them to play while hurt. That abuse eventually led to over twenty players leaving the team and three players attempting suicide, the Complaint alleges.
The firm represents Amelia Cunningham, a 2024 graduate who was recruited to the school with a large scholarship to play Division I women’s lacrosse. The Complaint details how Colgate ignored numerous warnings about Coach Taylor’s behavior, including complaints from student-athletes and their parents, as well as a letter from a civil rights law firm on behalf of several of the players. Colgate then conducted an inadequate investigation that cleared Coach Taylor of wrongdoing and allowed her to return to her position, where she continued harming players, according to the Complaint.
Ms. Cunningham alleges that Coach Taylor routinely made her exercise excessively, forced her to play through severe injuries, and pressured her to forego necessary medical care. Ms. Cunningham further alleges that Coach Taylor assumed that Ms. Cunningham was gay and harassed her on that basis.
Coach Taylor’s treatment, the Complaint alleges, was so unbearable that Ms. Cunningham’s grades and mental health plummeted. She attempted suicide in the fall of 2022—the third player on the team to do so. Ms. Cunningham survived, but her life has changed dramatically. She has had to undergo five surgeries for lacrosse-related injuries before the age of 23, and the lasting physical damage caused by one of those injuries means that she will likely never be able to fulfill her career dream of becoming a surgeon, says the Complaint.
“Colgate should have known that Coach Taylor’s tactics were hurting players,” said Carolin Guentert, Partner at Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight and Co-Chair of the firm’s Sexual Violence, Title IX, and Victims’ Rights Practice Group. “Yet the school kept her in her position of power. Our Complaint sets out Colgate’s failure to protect Ms. Cunningham from physical and emotional harm. College athletics are supposed to enrich a student’s life, not endanger it.”
The Complaint asserts that Colgate was negligent in its hiring, supervision, and retention of Coach Taylor and breached its duty to protect Ms. Cunningham from unreasonably enhanced risk in an extracurricular sport; that Colgate committed breach of contract and breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing by retracting Ms. Cunningham’s scholarship partway through her education; that Colgate’s response to Ms. Cunningham’s physical and emotional injuries violated the New York State Human Rights Law’s protections against disability discrimination; and that Coach Taylor’s treatment of Ms. Cunningham based on her perceived sexuality violated Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 and the New York State Human Rights Law. The Complaint requests a jury trial.
The case is filed in New York County Supreme Court. Ms. Cunningham is represented by Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight Partners Carolin Guentert and David Sanford, as well as Associates Susannah Cohen and Hyun Kim.
About Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight, LLP
Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight, LLP is a national public interest class-action litigation law firm with offices in New York, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Palo Alto, San Diego, and Nashville. Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight focuses on employment discrimination, Title IX, wage and hour, whistleblower, criminal/sexual violence, and financial services matters. The firm has recovered over $1 billion for its clients through many verdicts and settlements. The National Law Journal recognized Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight as 2021 Employment Rights Firm of the Year, 2021 Human Rights Firm of the Year, and 2022 Civil Rights Firm of the Year.
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