French v. U.S. Center for Safesport

── French v. U.S. Center for Safesport ── Case No.: 25-1075 Court: Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit Date: April 03, 2026 Category: General Appellate Case: 25-1075 Document: 58-1 Date Filed: 04/03/2026 Page: 1 FILED United States Court of Appeals UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS Tenth Circuit FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT April 3, 2026 _________________________________ Christopher M. Wolpert Clerk of Court LINDA FRENCH, an individual, Petitioner - Appellant, v. No. 25-1075 (D.C. No. 1:24-CV-02138-GPG-KAS) U.S. CENTER FOR SAFESPORT, a (D. Colo.) Colorado non-profit corporation, Respondent - Appellee. _________________________________ ORDER AND JUDGMENT * _________________________________ Before BACHARACH and MORITZ, Circuit Judges, and SHELBY, District Judge. ** ________________________________________ This appeal arises out of an athletic body’s suspension of its former president for failing to report allegations of sexual abuse, firing an * Oral argument would not materially help us decide this appeal, so we have decided the appeal based on the briefs. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). This order and judgment is not binding precedent except under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. But the order and judgment may be cited for its persuasive value if otherwise appropriate. Fed. R. App. P. 32.1(a); 10th Cir. R. 32.1(A). ** The Honorable Robert J. Shelby, United States District Judge for the District of Utah, sitting by designation.  Appellate Case: 25-1075 Document: 58-1 Date Filed: 04/03/2026 Page: 2 employee to retaliate for reporting the abuse, and neglecting to redact private information. The suspension was reviewable through arbitration. See 36 U.S.C. § 220541(c)(1). Under the athletic body’s rules, the arbitrator needed to give “appropriate weight” to an investigative report. Appellant’s App’x vol. 7, at 1066 (Rule 26(b), SafeSport Code for the Olympic & Paralympic Movement). The arbitrator complied, but the former president argues that the arbitrator improperly considered the report. We disagree. 1. An athletic body suspends its president. The athletic body was the United States Center for SafeSport, which is a statutory organization that investigates allegations of misconduct by participants in U.S. Olympic and Paralympic events. 36 U.S.C. § 220541(a)(1)(B). The Center ’s president was Ms. Linda French. Under the Center ’s rules, Ms. French • needed to promptly report allegations of sexual abuse against coaches and redact identifying information when complying with subpoenas and • could not retaliate against employees for reporting sexual abuse. The Center concluded that Ms. French had violated these rules and suspended her for five years, with a two-year probationary period to follow. Ms. French could challenge the suspension through arbitration, and she exercised that right. 2  Appellate Case: 25-1075 Document: 58-1 Date Filed: 04/03/2026 Page: 3 The applicable rules required the Center to compile an investigative report and to submit it to the arbitrator. The Center complied, and Ms. French testified about her disagreements with the report. With this testimony and the investigative report, the arbitrator upheld the suspension, finding that