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Often, yes. Gymnastics and cheer put children in close physical contact with adults, on travel weekends, in private lessons and in text threads parents never see. A gym, a cheer company or a club can be liable when it hired or kept a coach it should not have, ignored a complaint, or allowed the one-on-one contact its own rules were supposed to prevent. The same is true when the abuse came from an older athlete the program failed to supervise. The claim is against the program for its own conduct. It is separate from the claim against the coach or the athlete. Schiffer Law Firm in Houston represents athletes and families in these cases across Texas.
The step that cannot wait is the phone. Messages between the coach and your child, the program’s communication rules, private lesson schedules, travel rosters and rooming lists are the evidence. They live on devices and accounts that get wiped. Preserve what you have and call 713-521-0059.
Often more than its own. The federal Safe Sport Act, as amended in 2020, set standards for youth sports at two levels. For a gymnastics club that belongs to USA Gymnastics, the rules come through the national governing body. 36 U.S.C. Section 220542(a)(2) sets what the U.S. Center for SafeSport’s policies for governing bodies must include. Immediate reporting of any allegation of child abuse of a minor athlete to law enforcement. “Reasonable procedures to limit one-on-one interactions, including communications, between an amateur athlete who is a minor and an adult” who is not the child’s guardian, at a facility under the governing body’s jurisdiction. Consistent training on abuse prevention for adults in regular contact with minor athletes.
For a program outside a governing body, 36 U.S.C. Section 220530 places similar duties directly on an “applicable amateur sports organization.” The statute defines that as an amateur sports organization that competes across state lines or internationally and has adult members in regular contact with minor athletes. The duties are to report under the federal child abuse reporting statute, to keep reasonable procedures limiting one-on-one interactions including communications, to train adult members, and to prohibit retaliation against anyone who reports. Cheer has no certified national governing body. The statute’s definition of an amateur sports organization is limited to not-for-profit entities. So whether a particular cheer gym is bound by Section 220530 depends on how it is organized and where it competes, and we work that out early.
Whether or not the Act binds a given program, its standards describe what a reasonable youth sports program does. That is what matters to your Texas negligence claim. A gym that let a coach text your fourteen-year-old at midnight, run private lessons behind a closed door, or room with athletes on a travel weekend was not doing what the sport’s own safety rules call for. That is evidence of negligence.
Texas adds its own reporting duty. Section 261.101(a) of the Family Code requires every adult with reasonable cause to believe a child has been abused, by an adult or by another child, to report immediately. Professionals must report within 24 hours of first having reasonable cause. A program that handled a complaint only internally, and never made the report, did not comply.
Your claim is built on what the program knew and controlled. Was the coach screened before hiring, and did the program act on what the screening showed? Did the program have a one-on-one rule, and did it enforce it? What did the program do the day it first heard a concern from an athlete, a parent or another coach? Did the coach have a history at another gym that a phone call would have revealed? 36 U.S.C. Section 220541 requires the U.S. Center for SafeSport to publish a list of adults barred from the sport, and a program that never checked it has some explaining to do.
A program that followed its rules and had no warning is a harder case. A program with a file of ignored complaints is the case this page is about. We will tell you which one you have.
The program’s duty is the same. Older athletes coach younger ones. They share locker rooms and hotel rooms on travel weekends. They set the tone in the gym. Hazing and sexual abuse between athletes happen in that space. A program that takes custody of children has to supervise them with that risk in mind. The federal rules described above are written around contact between minors and adults. The claim for abuse by another athlete rests on Texas negligence law. What did the program know about that athlete? What did its rules require for supervising athletes together? What did it do the day it first heard? A program that was told, or should have seen, and left the two together is responsible for what followed. The abuser’s age can affect the claim against that athlete’s family. It does not change what the program owed your child.
Sometimes. Many gyms are private businesses, and no cap applies to them. Some booster clubs and teams are charitable organizations under Chapter 84 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, which expressly covers organizations formed for “youth sports and youth recreational” purposes. Section 84.006 limits a qualifying organization’s liability for bodily injury or death to $500,000 per person and $1,000,000 per occurrence, and Section 84.004 gives volunteers immunity for acts within the scope of their duties. Two conditions matter. Section 84.007(g) removes the cap from an organization that does not carry liability insurance in at least those amounts, and Section 84.007(a) removes the cap and the immunity for conduct that is “intentional, wilfully negligent, or done with conscious indifference or reckless disregard for the safety of others.” Which side of those lines the program falls on is decided on the facts.
Sometimes. 18 U.S.C. Section 2255 gives a person who was a victim as a minor of one of the federal offenses it lists a civil claim in federal court. The listed offenses include coercion or enticement using interstate communications, travel to engage in sexual conduct with a minor, and production of sexual images of a minor. The claim is for actual damages or liquidated damages of $150,000, plus attorney’s fees. Subsection (b) now provides that there is no time limit for filing it, though the 2022 amendment that removed the limit did not revive claims that were already time-barred when it took effect. Whether the conduct in your case fits one of the listed offenses is a question we answer early, because it changes where the case can be filed.
Section 16.0045(a) of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code gives thirty years where the injury arises from the child sexual abuse conduct it lists, including indecency with a child. Section 16.0045(b) gives five years for the offenses it lists, which include sexual assault of an adult. Both run from accrual, and a claim that belonged to a child is treated differently from one that belonged to an adult. Our page on how long you have to sue goes through it.
Every statute and case linked above was read at its primary source. Texas statutes change every legislative session and case law is constantly changing.
This page is general information about Texas law. It is not legal advice about your situation, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.
The program holds the records, and the messages are on phones. Both are preserved in the first week, or they are gone.
We start with the history of the coach or athlete responsible and with the program’s rules, because your case turns on what the gym knew and what its own governing body required it to do. Then we identify every responsible party: the gym or cheer company, the booster club, a national governing body where its own rules were broken, and the owner of the facility.
Schiffer Law Firm is a Houston personal injury firm with 50 plus years of combined experience representing injured people and survivors across Texas.
If you are a parent, an advocate or a counselor asking on someone’s behalf, you are welcome to call with a general question. We will not ask you for their name.
There is no charge to talk, and no attorney’s fee unless there is a recovery.
Written by Jacob Schiffer, Attorney, Schiffer Law Firm. State Bar of Texas No. 24105175.
Call 713-521-0059.
Often, yes. The claim is for the gym's own negligence in screening the coach, enforcing its one-on-one rules and responding to complaints. It is separate from the claim against the coach.
For clubs under a national governing body such as USA Gymnastics, the governing body's SafeSport policies under 36 U.S.C. Section 220542 require immediate reporting of child abuse allegations to law enforcement, limits on one-on-one interactions and communications between minor athletes and adults, and abuse prevention training. For other not-for-profit amateur sports organizations that compete across state lines and have adults in regular contact with minors, 36 U.S.C. Section 220530 imposes similar duties directly. Whether a particular cheer gym is covered depends on how it is organized.
The program's duty to supervise and protect is the same. The claim is for what the gym knew about that athlete, what its rules required, and what it did when it first heard. Every adult in Texas with reasonable cause to believe a child has been abused, by anyone, must report it under Section 261.101 of the Family Code.
Sometimes. 18 U.S.C. Section 2255 gives a person abused as a minor through one of the federal offenses it lists a civil claim for actual damages or $150,000 in liquidated damages plus attorney's fees, and since 2022 there is no time limit on filing a claim that was not already barred. Whether your facts fit is a question for the first conversation.
A qualifying charitable organization under Chapter 84 has a cap of $500,000 per person and $1,000,000 per occurrence for bodily injury or death, but only if it carries liability insurance in at least those amounts under Section 84.007(g). Section 84.007(a) removes it for conduct that is intentional, wilfully negligent, or done with conscious indifference or reckless disregard. Many gyms are private businesses with no cap.
Thirty years for the child sexual abuse conduct listed in Section 16.0045(a), five years for the offenses listed in Section 16.0045(b), which include sexual assault of an adult, measured from accrual. Ask about your dates.