Editor’s note: This story includes mention of sexual violence or assault.
A federal judge accepted a motion Tuesday to dismiss the case of former Indiana men’s basketball players against IU and former head trainer Tim Garl.
The lawsuit stemmed from alleged invasive and inappropriate rectal exams by former team physician Brad Bomba Sr., who was the team physician from 1979 until 1998. Former players Haris Mujezinovic and Charlie Miller first attached their names to the lawsuit in October 2024, alleging IU, and later Garl, knew about Bomba Sr.’s years-long abuse and “systematically mishandled” the complaints of the exams.
The Southern Indiana District Court ultimately sided with the defendants' motions to dismiss on grounds that the federal claims were filed well after the two-year statute of limitations. The plaintiffs argued the two-year clock began after the exams, when they first realized Bomba Sr.’s inspections were sexual harassment and abuse in 2024 and 2025.
However, Judge Tonya Walton Pratt sided with the defendants, stating the plaintiffs “knew of the fact of their injury around the time they were assaulted.”
The court relinquished supplemental jurisdiction, which allows it to hear closely-related claims to ones the federal court has subject matter jurisdiction for, over the plaintiff’s state claims. It also dismissed the claims without prejudice, stating “they may be refiled in state court and resolved by an Indiana state court.”
Allegations against Bomba Sr. first emerged in September 2024, when a former IU men’s basketball player, later identified as Mujezinovic, alleged improper behavior against the former team physician. Mujezinovic and Miller filed the lawsuit in October 2024, first against IU and later amended in January 2025 to include Garl.
In December 2024, Bomba Sr., who was not a defendant in the case, was ruled competent to provide a deposition after his mental health was called into question. Bomba Sr. did not answer 45 questions in the 75-minute deposition and invoked the Fifth Amendment, according to ESPN. He died May 8, 2025.
John Flowers joined the lawsuit as a plaintiff in January 2025, and Larry Richardson Jr. joined in March 2025. Numerous other former players have alleged sexual misconduct by Bomba Sr.
Jones Day, the law firm tasked by IU with investigating Mujezinovic’s original allegations, determined Bomba Sr. acted in a “clinically appropriate manner.” The report, issued in May 2025, didn’t find Bomba Sr.’s exams to be in “bad faith or with an improper purpose.”
Delaney & Delaney, the law firm representing the plaintiffs, declined to comment. An Indiana University spokesperson did not respond to comment at the time of publication.
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