YOUNGSTOWN  A flurry of legal filings in one of the federal civil rights hazing lawsuits includes a settlement with one student’s family and a request for an immediate victory against nearly two dozen others who have failed to respond to the suit.

Attorneys representing the plaintiffs, identified in court documents as Jane Doe and her two children, filed a motion for default judgment Thursday against 17 individual defendants. The group includes former football players and their parents who have not hired attorneys or filed an answer to the lawsuit, despite being served with the complaint in mid-November.

The motion asks U.S. District Judge Benita Pearson to find these defendants liable for damages based on their failure to defend themselves against allegations of hazing, sexual assault, and negligence.

Under federal civil rules, a default judgment allows a plaintiff to win a case when the opposing party ignores the lawsuit. If granted, the judge would accept the complaint’s factual allegations as true and move directly to determining how much money the defendants owe the victims.

The filing seeking default judgment targets seven student-defendants identified by their initials—D.P., Ta.W., To.W., A.B., G.C., C.S., and B.S.—and ten of their parents or guardians.

In a memorandum supporting the motion, the plaintiffs’ attorneys detailed the allegations against these students to establish liability. The narrative describes a pattern of assaults that allegedly occurred during football camps in Alabama and Florida in June 2025.

The filing recounts an incident in Alabama where a student allegedly pinned the plaintiff, referred to as Son Doe, to a bed while another student simulated a sexual act on him. The motion claims the attack was recorded and posted to a team Snapchat group.

The document further alleges a second, more aggressive assault days later at a hotel in Florida. According to the motion, multiple players dragged the plaintiff from a bathroom, injuring his foot, before holding him down and forcibly removing his pants and underwear. One defendant, identified as A.B., allegedly kept the underwear, describing it as a "trophy."

The motion argues that because these defendants have remained silent, they have forfeited their right to contest these facts. The plaintiffs requested that the court schedule a hearing within 60 days to assess monetary damages.

While the default motion seeks to penalize non-responsive parties, a separate filing on Thursday indicated that at least one family has chosen to resolve the matter out of court.

A motion for dismissal was filed jointly by the plaintiffs and defendants, identified as D.T., a former senior football player, and his parents, Somer Thomas and Tyler Taylor. The document states that the parties have reached a settlement agreement to resolve the claims against them.

The specific terms of the settlement were not disclosed in the filing, but the motion requests that the court retain jurisdiction to enforce the agreement if necessary. The dismissal applies to multiple counts, including civil liability for hazing, battery, and parental liability for willful assaults.

The settlement would separate D.T. and his family from the remaining defendants, such as the Roman Catholic Diocese of Youngstown and school administrators.

The request for default judgment included an affidavit from a licensed private investigator hired to serve court papers to the defendants.

According to the affidavit, the investigator delivered legal packets to most of the parents and guardians at their residences in mid-November. However, the investigator noted difficulties in locating some fathers named in the suit. In one instance, a mother claimed she did not know the identity of her child’s father. In another case, a mother stated the father did not live at the address provided by the school and claimed she did not know where he resided.

Despite the gaps, the plaintiffs argue that sufficient service was made to the custodial parents and the students themselves to trigger the legal deadline for a response. That deadline passed earlier this week without any filings from the 17 individuals.

In an answer to the complaint filed earlier in the week, attorneys for the Diocese of Youngstown, Ursuline High School, and administrators Matthew Sammartino, Margaret Damore, and John DeSantis denied allegations that the school fostered a "culture of hazing."

The school’s administration claims that it acted swiftly once the allegations came to light on June 23, 2025. The defendants assert that they immediately opened an internal investigation, contacted child protective services in two counties, and notified the Youngstown Police Department.

The Diocese acknowledges that some misconduct occurred, but argues that the football coaches—Daniel Reardon, Timothy McGlynn, and Christian Syrianoudis—were unaware of the specific incidents until they returned from the trip. The answer states that the coaches were spread out on the bus and checked rooms regularly, but could not monitor every interaction in private hotel rooms.

The school also defends its disciplinary response, noting that eight players believed to be involved were suspended in accordance with the student handbook. The filing emphasizes that federal student privacy laws, known as FERPA, prevented the school from publicly disclosing the details of its investigation or the specific discipline handed out.

Regarding the allegations of a cover-up, the Diocese denies destroying evidence. The school admits to deactivating certain social media accounts after the incident but claims this was done to protect student privacy and stop the spread of misinformation, rather than to hide evidence of hazing. The filing asserts that the relevant evidence was contained on the students’ private Snapchat accounts, not the school’s promotional pages.

As the lawsuit moves forward, the court must now decide whether to grant the default judgment against the 17 non-responsive defendants.