Former Bergen Ice Skating Coach Degraded, Humiliated 16-Year-Old Girl: Lawsuit

BERGEN COUNTY, NJ — The former student of a Bergen County ice skating coach claims rink owners should have better protected her from sexual abuse in a lawsuit.

Officials charged Andrew Lavrik of Hackensack with criminal sexual contact and endangering the welfare of a child in 2019. He pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of a child in 2020 and entered a state intervention program rather than going to jail, court records show.

Now, the victim has filed suit against Lavrik and The Ice House for intentional reckless misconduct, negligence, gender discrimination, violation of New Jersey's Child Sex Abuse Act, intentional infliction of emotional distress, assault and battery, and fictitious defendants. The lawsuit was filed in Bergen County Superior Court on June 22.

Patch is not naming the plaintiff, who was 16 at the time of the reported assault. Lavrik was an ice skating and ice dancing coach at the time for The Ice House in Hackensack, and coached at other facilities in New Jersey and New York, court documents show.

Management at The Ice House declined to comment.

The plaintiff says Lavrik used his power over her to degrade and humiliate her, touch her inappropriately, sexually arouse or gratify himself, and corrupt her morals. The plaintiff says she suffered severe and permanent emotional, psychological, and personal damages.

She claims The Ice House "enabled defendant Lavrik to secure the trust" of her and her mother, and did not adequately protect her from abuse. The plaintiff claims Lavrik "had access" to her at various locations throughout the county.

The plaintiff claims Lavrik "had a reputation in the ice skating and ice dancing community for similar misconduct."

The lawsuit claims management at The Ice House "knew or should have known" Lavrik was unfit to coach and would "inflict harm upon female students including plaintiff," but did not act.

The plaintiff is demanding a trial by jury, and certain documentation defendants have relating to the incident.

Amos Gern of Starr, Gern, Davison & Rubin, P.C. is representing the plaintiff.