Michigan settles latest in school sex abuse payouts
A financial payout for more than 1,000 people — mostly men — who say they were sexually assaulted by former University of Michigan sports doctor Robert Anderson is the latest multimillion settlement involving schools faced with sexual misconduct scandals.
The $490 million settlement announced Wednesday by the Ann Arbor school is just $10 million shy of the $500 million Michigan State University agreed in 2018 to pay to sexual assault victims of it’s own sport doctor, Larry Nassar.
Other settlements include:
Michigan State University’s agreement was to settle claims of more than 300 women and girls who said they were assaulted by Nassar, who also was a doctor for USA Gymnastics. The school was accused of ignoring or dismissing complaints about Nassar, some as far back as the 1990s, but had insisted that no one covered up assaults. Nassar pleaded guilty to molesting women and girls under the guise of treatment and was caught with child pornography. He is serving three prison sentences that will likely keep him locked up for life.
The University of Southern California agreed in 2021 to an $852 million settlement with more than 700 women who have accused longtime campus gynecologist Dr. George Tyndall of sexual abuse. The settlement is believed to be a record amount for such a lawsuit. When combined with an earlier settlement of a separate class-action suit, USC agreed to pay out more than $1 billion for claims against Tyndall, who worked at the school for nearly three decades and faces 35 criminal counts of alleged sexual misconduct. He has pleaded not guilty and is free on bond.
Penn State University has paid out more than $100 million to more than 40 people who said they were sexually abused by former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. Sandusky is serving a 30- to 60-year sentence for sexual abuse of boys, including attacks that occurred in campus facilities.
In July 2021, a federal judge approved a $73 million settlement in a 2019 class-action lawsuit that alleged some 6,000 women were sexually abused by former University of California, Los Angeles gynecologist Dr. James Heaps. The 2019 suit involved allegations that from 1983 to 2018, Heaps groped women, simulated intercourse with an ultrasound probe or made inappropriate comments during examinations. The university has said it began investigating Heaps in December 2017. He retired in 2018 when the university declined to renew his contract. Heaps faces 21 criminal charges of sexual abuse offenses involving seven women.
Ohio State University agreed to more than $46 million in settlements for more than 185 people who alleged sexual abuse from team doctor Richard Strauss. About 400 men sued the university over its alleged failure to stop Strauss during his two-decade tenure, despite students raising concerns with various school officials as far back as the late 1970s.