The Blackhawks’ legal problems in the fallout of Kyle Beach’s sexual assault scandal may be far from over.
Three people affected by the 2010 cover-up — former Hawks skating coach Paul Vincent, a former Hawks black aces player and a former Miami (Ohio) University student — are all now planning to file lawsuits against the Hawks.
Christopher Cortese, a Chicago-based defense attorney for Hurley McKenna & Mertz who represents all three, told the Sun-Times on Thursday he and his clients are gathering information and doing the due diligence necessary to be prepared to file lawsuits.
That is, if the complaints aren’t first resolved out of court — and Cortese and Hawks lawyers have been in communication. Those talks started last summer regarding the former Miami student identified anonymously as “John Doe 3” and in the fall regarding “Black Ace 1” and Vincent, Cortese said.
The Hawks did not respond to a request for comment Thursday. The timing of Thursday’s news seems coincidental to Hawks chairman Rocky Wirtz’s Wednesday explosion over questions about the Hawks’ present-day response to the scandal.
All three people’s involvement in the scandal, which revolves around former Hawks video coach Brad Aldrich allegedly assaulting Beach during the 2010 Stanley Cup run, has already been known and widely discussed.
“Doe 3” was allegedly sexually assaulted by Aldrich in fall 2012 while spending the night on Aldrich’s couch, per a Barnes & Thornburg report released in September following an investigation into Aldrich’s time as Miami’s director of hockey operations.
Cortese said Thursday the Hawks’ decision to not only not report Aldrich’s alleged assault to police, but to also give him Stanley Cup memorabilia and recognition even after he left the team, helped him gain the trust of “Doe 3” and other future victims, including the former Houghton (Michigan) High School student whose lawsuit against the Hawks existed alongside Beach’s last year.
“Ace 1,” meanwhile, was allegedly sexually harassed by Aldrich in spring 2010, with Aldrich sending him a text about oral sex and another text with a picture of his penis, per the Jenner & Block report released in October. “Ace 1” claimed in the report he and Aldrich never had any physical contact, but he was still bullied about the situation for years afterward.
Vincent was the Hawks coach Beach first told about the assault, prompting Vincent to push the information up the ladder and initiate the infamous meeting of top Hawks leadership in which his request to inform police was rejected, per the Jenner & Block report.
But even though all three individuals aren’t previously unknown people in the scandal, their potential legal actions against the Hawks would nonetheless make waves.
“Doe 3” and “Ace 1” would likely file negligence lawsuits, similar to those filed — and ultimately settled in December — by Beach and “Doe 2.”
Vincent, conversely, is planning to file a retaliatory discharge lawsuit, Cortese said. He claims his contract was not renewed by the Hawks following the 2010 season and he was instead only offered a much lower-paying, lower-status job with the Hawks’ AHL affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs.