May 16 (UPI) — Michigan State University has agreed to a $500 million settlement with more than 300 women who accused sports medicine doctor Larry Nassar of assault, officials said Wednesday.
The settlement requires the school to pay $425 million to current claimants and $75 million to a trust fund for future claimants.
The settlement ends civil legal proceedings that started over a year ago against Nassar, when multiple women and girls said he sexually assaulted them. The lawsuits eventually included 332 women.
In January, more than 150 women testified at trial about Nassar’s pattern of sexual abuse. Michigan State University, his former employer, argued it’s immune as a state institution from being sued — and noted the statute of limitations on many of the cases had expired.
Nassar was also a doctor for the U.S. National Women’s Gymnastics Team. He pleaded guilty to federal child pornography charges and 10 counts of criminal sexual conduct in Michigan courts.
Nassar was sentenced to 60 years in prison on the child porn charges, and up to 175 years on sex abuse charges.
Robert Young Jr., special counsel to the university, called Wednesday’s agreement “fair.”
“We appreciate the hard work both sides put into the mediation, and the efforts of the mediator, which achieved a result that is responsible and equitable,” he said in a statement.
The settlement does not include a confidentiality or non-disclosure agreement, and does not address alleged incidents of sexual abuse involving gymnastics organizing bodies.
