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A North Carolina judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by 31 former North Carolina State male athletes alleging sexual abuse by the athletic program’s former sports medicine director.
The lawsuit was filed under the guise of treatment and harassment against Robert M. Murphy Jr., as well as North Carolina sports officials who are bound by oversight rules.
However, Wake County Superior Court Judge Bryan Collins dismissed the claims, citing procedural reasons.
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North Carolina State Wolfpack club seats are set up for fans during the college basketball game between the North Carolina Tar Heels and North Carolina State at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina, on January 8, 2019. (Michael Berg/Sportswire Icon)
This lawsuit, which was filed in state court in February, was a case that began in 2022 when a single athlete filed his own federal lawsuit. It was alleged that Murphy engaged in years of misconduct, including improper touching of genitals during massages and intrusive observation during urine sampling for drug tests.
Ultimately, Collins granted a motion by Murphy’s attorneys seeking dismissal of the case, ruling that the statute of limitations had expired on claims dating back to 2013.
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Additionally, Collins dismissed lawsuits against athletics officials, including former athletics director Debbie Yow and current athletics director Boo Corrigan, on jurisdictional grounds.
Kery Sutton, who has represented the former NC State athletes since the original case, said they plan to appeal the judge’s decision.
“This firing has nothing to do with Mr. Murphy’s sexual abuse of these 31 former student-athletes,” Sutton said in a statement. “It was decided based solely on issues of legal procedure. We plan to appeal this outcome and in the coming days will be adding new claims against NCSU for men that have recently been filed.”
The NC State Wolfpack logo appears on a pair of shorts during a second-round game in the Southwest Maui Invitational against the Boise State Broncos at the Lahaina Center in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Nov. 25, 2025. (Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
“The truth is that nothing happened other than ruining a man’s career for money,” Jared Hammett, Murphy’s attorney, said in a statement. “As a lawyer, I’m glad I was able to help another person who needed support and found themselves needing that defense.”
Hammett’s statement also described Murphy as “someone who dedicated his life to working with athletes.”
Only two of the athletes involved in the lawsuit filed the lawsuit without using “John Doe” as the plaintiff’s name to protect anonymity. One of them was Benjamin Locke, a Wolfpack men’s soccer player who filed the original lawsuit in August 2022.
The North Carolina State Wolfpack logo is displayed during the second half of NC State’s game against the Miami Hurricanes at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina, on January 15, 2020. (Jaylynn Nash/Icon Sportswire)
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“NC State does not tolerate sexual misconduct of any kind,” the school said in a statement. “The health and safety of our students and student-athletes is paramount to the university and our athletic programs.”
