By Professor Robert J. Romano, JD, LLM, St. John’s University, Senior Writer
In November 2021, Julia Pernsteiner, a twenty-three-year-old Division I cross country runner (harrier) at Jacksonville University, committed suicide while alone in her college dorm room. By her own account, she wasn’t the best of students nor the best of athletes, but her low grades and slow running times weren’t the reasons why she took her own life. Her heartbreaking and premature death allegedly happened because of Jacksonville’s lack of institutional support for her various learning disabilities, together with the “oppressive and relentless bullying” by her coach, Ronald E. Grigg, Jr. Due to this lack of support and coach’s mistreatment that led to her death, Julia’s parents, Ray and Lynne Pernsteiner, on February 3, 2023, filed a lawsuit against both Jacksonville University and Coach Ronald E. Grigg, Jr. in the Circuit Court for Duval County, Florida.[1]
In the parent’s eight count complaint, which asserts breach of contract, intentional infliction of emotional distress, a violation of the Florida Survival Action Statute, and that the University failed to abide by the requirements of Title IX, the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, together with a wrongful death claim, they allege that even though Jacksonville was aware that their daughter suffered from ADHD, dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia, it nonetheless recruited her to compete on its Division I cross country team. In fact, as part of its recruiting process the University identified Julia as qualifying for reasonable accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act and its own Director of Disability Support Services issued a memorandum that outlined how she was to receive extended time for exams and assignments, assistive technology, professors’ notes, a reader and a scribe.[2]
However, it is alleged by her parents that after Julia enrolled, Jacksonville neglected and/or refused to comply with its own Disability Support Services Director’s memorandum when it failed to provide their daughter with the necessary and agreed upon accommodations.[3] In addition to the lack of institutional support for Julia’s academic success in the classroom, on the playing field, the young student-athlete had to endure verbal and emotional abuse on a consistent basis by her own cross country coach.
Per the lawsuit filed in Duval County, Jacksonville’s cross country coach, Ronald E. Grigg, Jr., was oppressive, threatening, bullying, condescending, and demeaning not only to Julia, but to many of the young women on the team.[4] As for Julia specifically, however, the lawsuit claims that Coach Grigg was especially satisfied when he publicly humiliated Julia and frequently referred to her as ‘retarded,’ ‘the slowest f…king runner on the team,’and commented that she was unable to ‘wipe her own a…”[5] It also states that Coach Grigg had a history of making inappropriate sexual comments and gestures towards certain female members of the cross country team, while at the same time others were ‘fat shamed’ and subjected to weekly weigh-ins to check their body mass index (BMI). When these ‘instances’ were reported to the athletic department, according to the lawsuit, instead of initiating an investigation, the “school closed ranks around Grigg and refused to take action.”[6]
The good news, if there is any ‘good news’ to be had regarding this matter, is that in October 2024, after using the services of a court mediator, Julia’s parents settled any and all claims it had against Jacksonville University and its coach, the terms of which were not disclosed due to a strict confidentiality agreement.[7]
The irony of this case, however, is that Julia began running and took up cross country racing in high school as a way for her to cope with the learning disabilities she suffered from since childhood. To that end, it was the negative and destructive means by which her running coach, Ronald E. Grigg, Jr., treated her as both a student-athlete and a person that may have led to the young women taking her own life. For those who coach at high schools, colleges and universities throughout the country, no matter what the sport, please take notice and understand that not every student-athlete is there to “win a gold medal” so to speak, some are competing because competing helps to balance out their lives. In addition, take note that parents entrust you with the care and protection of their children, so you need to do the best job possible for the athletes themselves – it’s not always about wins and losses.
[1] Filing No 166080988 E-Filed 02/03/2023. Ray and Lynne Pernsteiner sued in their individual capacity and as Personal Representatives of the Estate of Julia Pernsteiner.
[2] Id. at page 6.
[3] Id. at page 7.
[4] Id. at page 8.
[5] Id. at page 9.
[6] Id. Note, Coach Grigg was allowed to resign from his position in July 2022.
[7] https://www.startribune.com/parents-of-college-runner-from-eagan-who-died-by-suicide-settles-suit-with-her-coach-and-school/601163284
