Photo caption: (L-R) Plaintiffs Danielle Carter and Katherine Touhey, attorney Sharon Arkin, and WBS&J attorney Kelsey L. Campbell outside the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco.
A unanimous appellate ruling allows former UC Berkeley swimmers’ claims against the UC Regents to proceed. The case is now moving forward in Alameda County Superior Court.
A California appeals court has revived a lawsuit brought by 18 former UC Berkeley swimmers who allege the university failed to protect them from years of verbal and psychological abuse by longtime women’s swim coach Teri McKeever.
In a unanimous 3-0 decision issued June 16, 2026, the First District Court of Appeal reversed the trial court’s dismissal, ruling that the swimmers’ claims could proceed under California’s delayed-discovery rule. The court concluded that the athletes plausibly alleged they did not recognize McKeever’s conduct as actionable abuse while they were on the team, in part because of the power and status she held within the elite athletic program. The court determined that the discovery rule postponed the accrual of the plaintiffs’ claims until 2022, making their 2023 lawsuit timely.
Winer Burritt Scott & Jacobs LLP represents the 18 former swimmers in Touhey et al. v. Regents of the University of California, Alameda County Superior Court Case No. 23CV032249. WBS&J attorney Kelsey L. Campbell and appellate counsel Sharon Arkin of The Arkin Law Firm represented the plaintiffs on appeal.
The swimmers, who competed for Cal between 2000 and 2020, filed suit in 2023 after allegations about McKeever’s conduct became public. They allege that the university failed to protect them from a longstanding culture of verbal and psychological abuse. The complaint further alleges that the UC Regents received complaints about McKeever’s conduct over many years, including from team captains and swimmers who contacted university officials.
The lawsuit asserts claims against the Regents for negligence, negligent supervision or retention, negligent failure to warn, train or educate, and negligent infliction of emotional distress. The university fired McKeever in January 2023 after investigating allegations of abusive and discriminatory conduct.
In June 2024, the UC Regents challenged the complaint as untimely under a two-year statute of limitations. The trial court dismissed the case, finding the claims were time-barred. The plaintiffs appealed, arguing that they did not recognize the alleged conduct as actionable abuse until years after their time on the team.
The First District agreed that the delayed-discovery rule could apply. The court noted the swimmers’ allegations that, although they understood they were suffering at the time, they believed the conduct was simply part of the demanding culture of elite athletics. The ruling allows their claims to move forward and gives the former athletes an opportunity to seek accountability through the civil justice system.
Following the appellate ruling and issuance of the remittitur, the case returned to Alameda County Superior Court in August 2026. On September 14, 2026, the UC Regents filed an Answer to the plaintiffs’ First Amended Complaint. The case is now at issue, and the parties are moving forward with discovery.
The appellate decision marks an important step for the 18 former swimmers, whose claims will now proceed in the trial court. The lawsuit’s allegations remain to be litigated.
Click here to read the Appellate Decision
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