The former player who sued the Chicago Blackhawks alleging the team did nothing when he made a sexual assault allegation against an assistant coach in 2010 has agreed to mediation in the hope of settling the case. .
Kyle Beach’s attorney, Susan Loggans, confirmed the development Tuesday. She also confirmed the judge in the case rejected her offer to move the case to the discovery stage, which would open the way for each side to gather evidence.
Mediation will begin in December. Beach is seeking in excess of $50,000 from the group, though the exact amount has not been specified. The Chicago Sun-Times first reported on this development.
Beach accused video coach Brad Aldrich of sexually assaulting him in 2010 and said the team largely ignored the allegations. An independent review, commissioned by the group in response to two lawsuits as the case blew up in the headlines, found that the Blackhawks mishandled Beach’s allegations.
The fall included top executives losing their jobs in Chicago and extending to other teams, including Florida, where veteran coach Joel Quenneville — the Blackhawks coach at the time — stepped down. The NHL fined Chicago $2 million.
Loggans and attorneys for the Blackhawks held settlement talks in early November after the results of the investigation were announced, meeting for about an hour. She said after those discussions that “each side has a different point of view.”
The investigation found no evidence that Rocky Wirtz’s owner or his son, chairman Danny Wirtz, was aware of the allegations before the lawsuit was brought this year. Danny Wirtz in October said he had guided the attorneys on the team to find “a fair solution that fits the totality of the circumstances.”
Loggans is also part of a second lawsuit against a former high school student’s soccer team that Aldrich was found guilty of assaulting in Michigan after he left Chicago. Negotiations between the two sides are continuing over John Doe’s pending lawsuit.
