A federal judge has tossed a high-profile lawsuit brought by a former administrative assistant who accused Archbishop Moeller High School’s former athletic director of sexual harassment and assault, effectively clearing both the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and the school from the case. Judge Matthew W. McFarland entered the decision in Cincinnati on March 10, 2026, closing out civil claims against those institutional defendants tied to alleged misconduct spanning 2016 through 2021 while leaving the procedural history on the federal docket.
Judge's ruling
Judge Matthew W. McFarland of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio granted the defendants’ motion and dismissed the claims against Moeller and the archdiocese. In his March 10 order, he concluded that the plaintiff “unreasonably failed to take advantage” of the “corrective opportunities” the school and archdiocese provided after she reported the alleged conduct, according to Bloomberg Law. The ruling followed earlier pretrial decisions that had already trimmed portions of the complaint.
About the lawsuit
The lawsuit, filed in April 2023, named Archbishop Moeller High School, the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and former athletic director Michael Asbeck as defendants, according to Justia. The filings describe a pattern of unwelcome comments, touching and other alleged misconduct from 2016 through 2021, and claim the plaintiff was constructively terminated after she reported what happened. Earlier opinions in the case parsed which counts were timely and which legal theories could survive initial challenges to the pleadings.
Local coverage and school response
When the complaint first hit federal court, local coverage broke down the allegations and noted that the archdiocese declined to comment on active litigation at the time. WCPO and other outlets published the complaint and background details, quoting extensively from the plaintiff’s account and identifying the school and archdiocese as defendants in the federal suit.
Legal implications
The rulings in this case spotlight how filing deadlines and internal-remedy defenses can make or break workplace sexual-misconduct claims. A 2024 order dismissed some counts as time-barred while allowing other harassment-based claims to move forward, illustrating how different causes of action come with different limitation periods. As reflected in Justia, the judge’s later decision to grant the defendants’ motion turned on whether the plaintiff adequately used the corrective processes the school said it had in place.
It is not yet clear whether the plaintiff will seek reconsideration or take the case to the appeals court. Any move in that direction would show up on the public federal docket. For now, the March 10 order closes this chapter for Moeller and the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, even as the underlying allegations remain preserved in the court record.
