IN THE STATE COURT OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY
STATE OF GEORGIA
JANE DOE,

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Plaintiff,
v.
USA GYMNASTICS, INC. d/b/a USA
GYMNASTICS, SAVANNAH METRO,
INC., and WILLIAM A. McCABE,
Defendants.

Civil Action No. ST13CV058RT

MOTION TO INTERVENE AND TO UNSEAL EVIDENCE
Intervenor The Indianapolis Star, a division of Gannett Company (hereinafter “Indy Star”),
respectfully moves to intervene in this action for the limited purpose of moving to unseal certain
documents and deposition testimony that were improperly filed under seal and that are of significant
public interest. Because this matter is of great public importance and concern, Indy Star respectfully
requests that this Motion be addressed on an expedited basis. In support of this Motion, Indy Star
respectfully states as follows:
I.

INTRODUCTION

This case arises from allegations that a USA Gymnastics, Inc. (“USA Gymnastics”) coach,
Defendant William McCabe (“McCabe”), committed multiple acts of criminal sexual misconduct
against an 11-year-old gymnast who was under his care while training as a member of USA
Gymnastics. It is alleged that in the eight years before McCabe sexually violated the plaintiff in this
case, USA Gymnastics received numerous complaints claiming McCabe had sexually abused other
children who were members of USA Gymnastics, and that if USA Gymnastics had properly
investigated and reported those allegations of sexual misconduct, the plaintiff in this case would not
have suffered McCabe’s pedophiliac wrath.

 Ensuring that allegations of sexual misconduct against minors are properly investigated and
reported is of the utmost public concern. Indeed, every state in the country has enacted laws
requiring such allegations to be reported to law enforcement or other government authorities. It
appears from the evidence in this case that USA Gymnastics has, for decades, systematically ignored
these laws and avoided disclosing -- to government authorities or even its own members -widespread and pervasive complaints that its member coaches have sexually abused minors
participating in the USA Gymnastics program. In what appears to be a further effort to keep these
complaints secret and to shield USA Gymnastics from public scrutiny, 54 coaches complaint files
that were produced by USA Gymnastics in this case and certain deposition testimony of USA
Gymnastics officials with knowledge of those complaints were filed under seal in connection with
USA Gymnastics’ motion for summary judgment.
The parties’ filing of these evidentiary items under seal -- without a motion requesting
permission to file these (or any other) materials under seal, without a hearing as to whether these
items may be properly sealed, and without an order from this Court setting forth findings of fact and
conclusions of law authorizing these (or any other) items to be filed under seal -- violates settled law
and was wholly improper. Georgia law requires all court records to be open to the public and
prohibits the filing of case materials under seal, except as provided by Uniform State Court Rule 21.
The parties did not comply with any of the requirements of Rule 21 when filing the coaches
complaint files and deposition testimony under seal. For that reason alone, all of these materials
should be unsealed.
Even if the parties had properly sought and obtained permission to file these materials under
seal, the public’s interest in protecting the country’s youth by shining a light on USA Gymnastics’
apparent pattern of intentional (and potentially unlawful) failure to disclose allegations of criminal

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 sexual misconduct by its coaches against the children under their supervision and care far outweighs
any interest USA Gymnastics (or anyone else) could assert in keeping the materials private.
Accordingly, USA Gymnastics cannot overcome Indy Star’s statutory and common law rights of
public access, and there is no lawful basis for sealing the coaches complaint files and related
deposition testimony.
II. STATEMENT OF GOOD CAUSE FOR EXPEDITED RELIEF
Indy Star is a daily newspaper that has been in publication for more than 100 years and that
has twice won the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting. Indy Star is actively investigating, and
working on news stories related to, allegations that USA Gymnastics has received numerous
complaints of sexual abuse or other misconduct by its member coaches which it has systematically
refused to investigate or report solely because someone other than the victim or the victim’s parent
reported the misconduct to USA Gymnastics. The veracity of these allegations -- which it appears
would be illuminated by the coaches complaint files and deposition testimony filed under seal in this
case -- is of tremendous public interest and concern. Indeed, with every passing day that USA
Gymnastics is permitted to keep these complaints hidden from its gymnasts, their parents, and the
public, youth members of USA Gymnastics across the country are put at an increased risk of being
victimized by coaches with a secret history of sexual abuse and misconduct, and by an organization
that has allowed it to happen time and again.
The parties’ improper filing of public court records under seal is preventing complete and
timely reporting to the public, and is a continuing and irreparable injury to the public’s and Indy
Star’s common law and First Amendment rights to access and copy such information for public
dissemination. Because the relief sought in this Motion implicates Indy Star’s right to access and
disseminate news of substantial public interest, there is good cause for the Court to review this

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