Jury awards $12.5M to woman abused as child by skating coach
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Following a trial, a Hennepin County jury has awarded $12.5 million to a woman who was sexually abused as a child by her figure skating coach.
Thomas J. Incantalupo, 54, is serving a 24-year sentence after pleading guilty in 2019 to sexually assaulting the victim for two years, starting when she was 14.
Plaintiff's attorney Michael Hall III said the jury award includes $10 million for past and future mental and emotional harm, plus another $2.5 million in punitive damages.
"Sexual abuse is a life-wrecking harm,” Hall said in a phone interview with MPR News on Friday. “The perpetrator is forever stealing the victim's childhood."
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"Mr. Incantalupo is grateful that the trial gave him the chance to tell his story, and he stands by his testimony,” defense attorney Kevin Riach said in an email to MPR News. “The jury determined that Plaintiff had proven her case and we respect that. We are currently weighing an appeal."
Incantalupo met the victim in 2011, around her tenth birthday, and began giving her skating lessons. Two years later, he began taking the girl on out-of-state trips without other adults present. And in the summer of 2015, he began sexually assaulting her on a regular basis, typically on trips to other states and countries but also at hotels in Eden Prairie.
Incantalupo raped the girl over the course of two years. In early 2018 the teen told a friend about the abuse, and her parents reported it to authorities. Police had the girl wear a wire when she told Incantalupo that she wanted to discontinue having sexual contact. Officers arrested Incantalupo after hearing him acknowledge the hotel visits.
The plaintiff, who filed her lawsuit in 2023 as Jane Doe, also named the U.S. Figure Skating Association, Eden Prairie Figure Skating Club, and Braemar-City of Lakes Figure Skating Club as defendants. In her civil complaint, she alleges that the organizations “knew or should have known” that Incantalupo was “a danger to minors” and failed to disclose their concerns to the victim’s parents.
But in June, Hennepin County Judge Michael Browne dropped the three skating organizations from the suit, writing in a ruling that Incantalupo was an independent contractor hired by the victim's parents.
The [organizations] had no employment relationship with Incantalupo, did not select him for Doe, had no role in his coaching, and did not arrange the trips,” Browne writes.
Hall said he's considering appealing Browne’s decision to dismiss the complaint against the skating organizations.
“If you’re going to get to the root of the problem, you need to go to the entity that has the control, and the entity that has the control is U.S. Figure Skating.”
MPR News reached out to U.S. Figure Skating to request comment on the jury’s decision.
Hall said that his client, who’s now 24, is a newly sworn police officer and is working toward her long-term goal of becoming a sex crimes investigator.
A 24-hour statewide sexual violence and domestic violence hotline is available in Minnesota. You can call Minnesota Day One at (866) 223-1111 or text (612) 399-9995.
