From Luke v. Schwartz, decided yesterday by Judge Robert Pitman (W.D. Tex.); of course, as usual, keep in mind that at this stage of the lawsuit these are only allegations:
Plaintiff David Luke … alleges the following facts …. Luke dated [defendant Jeffrey] Schwartz's daughter, Emma Schwartz …, … while they were both 17-year-olds attending Park City High School in Park City Utah. [Sex between 17-year-olds is not itself criminal in Utah. -EV] Luke and Emma had consensual sex on multiple occasions during their relationship. Luke alleges that he and Emma had a tacit agreement that sex without a condom was an acceptable option as Emma had initiated unprotected sex once before and had performed unprotected oral sex on Luke on more than one occasion.
On December 18, 2021, Luke and Emma had sex. Luke was intoxicated and Emma was not. Luke removed his condom during sex, which he did not believe would upset Emma because they had engaged in unprotected sex before. During the encounter on December 18, Emma did not realize Luke had removed his condom until she noticed it lying on the bed next to her. Emma told Luke that she "was upset by him removing the condom without discussing it with her first, and he apologized." A few weeks later, Luke and Emma broke up. Luke alleges that Emma tried to get back together with Luke and "certainly did not act like he had sexually assaulted her."
In May of 2022, Emma, Schwartz, and Emma's mother, filed a civil lawsuit against Luke and his parents in Utah state court (the "Utah civil suit"). Emma and her mother then went to the Summit County District Attorney's office and "complained that [Emma] had been sexually assaulted." Emma gave a full statement to the District Attorney's office in which she claimed that because Luke "had taken the condom off … without her verbal consent, she was a victim of sexual assault." The District Attorney declined to prosecute Luke because "those acts do not amount to sexual assault under Utah Law." The Utah civil suit proceeded publicly for about a year before being sealed and dismissed.
Luke alleges that Schwartz has been "obsessed with [Luke]'s family and specifically obsessed with doing anything he can to hurt [Luke]." Schwartz sent an email to Bobby Orr … stating that "[Luke] sexually assaulted my daughter during their senior year in high school." Orr is on the board of the Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity at the University of Texas where Luke attends college. Luke is a member of Phi Gamma Delta. Luke further alleges that Schwartz "has also engaged in a letter-writing campaign sending similarly defamatory statements to members of sororities across Texas in an effort to destroy Plaintiff's reputation and turn private allegations into matters of public knowledge."
Schwartz has also, according to Luke, used social media to identify sorority girls who may come into contact with Luke at the University of Texas and has sent "these girls copies of the unverified civil complaint" (the "Utah complaint") from the Utah civil suit which has been sealed by the Utah court. Schwartz sent the Utah complaint with no return address and "no cover letter explaining who the letter was from or why they [were] receiving it." Emma, her mother, and Schwartz have also been engaging in legislative advocacy to change the criminal sexual assault laws in Utah so that taking off a condom during sex without verbal consent—also known as "stealthing"—is considered criminal sexual assault in the state.
