Judge makes it easier for victims to join lawsuit against Barnstormers and former Iowa youth basketball coach

DAVENPORT — A federal judge’s ruling Wednesday will make it easier for potential sex abuse victims of former youth basketball coach Greg Stephen to join a class-action lawsuit against Stephen and the Iowa Barnstormers.

Guy Cook, lead attorney for an unnamed former Iowa Barnstormers basketball player who filed the suit in 2020, told The Gazette the ruling should help advance settlement of the case.

In the ruling, U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephen Locher refused the Barnstormers’ request to require potential victims to “opt-in” to the lawsuit.

Last year, a federal judge ruled all former and present members of Barnstormers — who were potential victims of Stephen’s between 2005 and April 5, 2018 — could join the class action lawsuit.

The unnamed player is suing the former coach, Barnstormers, team sponsor Adidas and Amateur Athletic Union for being negligent in hiring and supervising Stephen and inadequate policies to protect “vulnerable youth athletes from the despicable conduct” of Stephen.

Stephen, 44, of Monticello, was sentenced in 2019 to 180 years in federal prison. He pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual exploitation of a child and one count each of possession of child pornography and transportation of child pornography.

During the investigation, authorities found videos on a USB device taken from Stephen's hidden camera that he used to record naked players in a hotel room in Lombard, Ill., and Ankeny, Iowa. They also recovered covert recording devices from his Monticello and Delhi homes.

The teens did not know they were being recorded, according to court documents.

Stephen also posed as teenage girls on social media to persuade the boys to send him explicit images, according to testimony in plea and sentencing hearings.

Wednesday’s ruling also approved how members should be notified. A questionnaire, which Barnstormers requested, will be included but will be limited and class members are not required to respond to it.

Nothing in the questionnaire will cause victims to be excluded from the class action, Cook said.

Barnstormers argued they didn’t intend for the questionnaire to narrow the size of the class members, but instead to allow for discovery of information necessary to its defense, according to the ruling.

Their lawyers said the information could help advance settlement discussions. It’s also the only way they can obtain the requested information, and the questions can be answered by potential victims without the need for a lawyer.

The judge ruled the questionnaire isn’t designed to reduce the class size. The class can include individuals affiliated with Barnstormers while Stephen was involved with the organization and who fell victim to his illicit acts of “secretly procuring nude images and/or recordings of minors.”

Most of the questions ask for basic background information that the court approved, and others will be modified, the ruling states. The court will ensure former players aren’t required to respond, and failure to respond will not exclude anyone from settlement or damages.

The court also concluded that the questionnaire, as modified, can be completed without a lawyer. The questions are simple, concise and request information that is available. And the information requested cannot otherwise be obtained by Barnstormers.

The notice approved by the court can be provided several ways, including individual notices by mail to more than 200 present and former Barnstormers players who have been identified by the plaintiff and defense; publication of a notice in the Des Moines Register and The Gazette; and notices posted on the Grefe & Sidney law firm’s website and on the “Justice for Victims of Greg Stephen” Facebook page.

A jury trial on the lawsuit is scheduled for Aug. 1 in U.S. District Court in Davenport.

Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com