UGA athletics, ex-Bulldog star Jalen Carter respond to Georgia football staffer's lawsuit

The University of Georgia Athletic Association and NFL star rookie Jalen Carter responded separately in filings last week in the state court of Gwinnett County to a lawsuit seeking damages by a Georgia football recruiting staffer who sustained serious injuries in the fatal crash that killed two from the program on Jan. 15.

UGA athletics is denying it should be held liable. It said Victoria “Tory” Bowles, who filed the lawsuit, and Chandler LeCroy had been out drinking for more than four hours in at least four downtown Athens bars including a strip club after a national championship celebration.

It says Bowles watched LeCroy drive a UGA-rented Ford Expedition recklessly in the lane of oncoming traffic in the early morning, but elected to remain in the car after stopping at a Waffle House before deciding to head to another on the east side of Athens.

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UGA contends the two recruiting analysts knew the vehicle was to be used for transporting recruits and to drive home when recruiting activities required it such as to park and use the next day.

Bowles’ lawsuit filed in July contended that UGA athletics negligently entrusted the Expedition to LeCroy, who was the driver in a crash that killed LeCroy and Georgia offensive lineman Devin Willock. It said it was aware LeCroy had at least four speeding tickets, including two “super speeder” violations on her record.

Bowles and offensive lineman Warren McClendon were passengers who survived the crash. Bowles sustained injuries to her spinal cord, fractured vertebrae and clavicle and a collapsed lung. She sustained a closed head injury and neurological damage that caused severe eye pain.

“UGAAA never implied or suggested that analysts could use the rental vehicles for purely personal activities, and it has absolutely never granted permission for analysts to drunkenly drive the vehicles or to race at unsafe speeds through city streets,” it said in its court response.

Police said LeCroy was driving with a blood alcohol level more than twice the legal limit when she was racing Carter at speeds as high as 104 miles per hour. Carter plead no contest to reckless driving and racing his Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk. He received 12 months of probation and had to perform 50 hours of community service.

“Ms. Bowles made the fateful choice to get in a rented Ford Expedition with an intoxicated Ms. LeCroy behind the wheel,” the UGA athletics response said.

Bowles lawsuit stated she was unaware entering the rented SUV that LeCroy may be legally intoxicated.

Bowles was fired from her recruiting job in August, a move her attorney, Rob Buck, called “direct retaliation," for the lawsuit.

The lawsuit also said Carter, a first-round pick by the Philadelphia Eagles in April, is also liable for “engaging in a grossly negligent joint enterprise-tandem driving/street racing.”

Carter contends, through his attorneys, that Bowles “failed to exercise ordinary care for her own safety when she voluntarily assumed the risk of harm by riding in an automobile being driven by an obviously impaired and intoxicated driver... whose negligence was the proximate cause of the subject wreck.”

The filing states Carter made no attempt to outgain, outdistance or prevent LeCroy’s vehicle from passing his vehicle. It also said Carter had no conversation with LeCroy about racing.

Carter also denies unlawfully leaving the scene of the crash. The filing says Carter stopped his Jeep after LeCroy’s vehicle left the road, exited the Jeep and walked to the scene of the crash to check on LeCroy’s condition and other passengers. Carter left the scene “when it was apparent that there was nothing he could do to help and that his presence was not required at the scene.”

The father of Willock is seeking $40 million in damages in a separate lawsuit whose defendants include the Georgia Athletic Association and Carter.

Breadman Jalen LLC is also a defendant in the Bowles lawsuit. That’s Carter’s company that handled his marketing and NIL opportunities.

The lawsuit is seeking $171,595 each from the UGA Athletic Association, Carter, Carter’s Breadman LLC, and the estate of LeCroy as well as attorney fees and additional unspecified damages.

“I think there has been a massive PR campaign supporting these two lawsuits to the detriment of the UGA Athletic Association and Jalen Carter and others named in the case without them having the chance to explain themselves,” Bill Cowsert, an attorney representing Carter, told the Athens Banner-Herald. “Jalen Carter is not to blame for this accident at all although he is heartbroken for his friends and athletic employees that were killed or injured in this tragic collision.”

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: How UGA athletics, Jalen Carter responded to lawsuit from fatal crash