Update: Trustee Ted Brown Confirms $60 Million Settlement Figure
Sources have told The Legal Intelligencer that the Penn State Board of Trustees has approved around $60 million in settlements for most of the people claiming that Jerry Sandusky sexually abused them. That number will likely fluctuate as negotiations are ongoing, but for a “majority” of 32 claims, Penn State has offered an amount that lawyers said their clients would accept, according to the report. There is no indication that any of these deals have been signed yet.
When the Board voted to approve the settlements at a meeting last week, members would not discuss the number of victims or dollar amount, presumably because negotiations are still not finalized. Talks ideally will be finished by the end of the summer, sources also told The Legal.
About 10 or fewer of the claims have not reached a tentative deal. Attorneys Kenneth Feinberg and Michael K. Rozen, who are representing the university in settlement talks, have also been negotiating with clients who could not bring suit against the university because of the statute of limitations. The pair has administered massive settlement funds for victims of 9/11 and the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
UPDATE (July 19): Penn State trustee Ted Brown, foregoing the Board’s request for privacy, confirmed to the Associated Press the $60 million figure from The Legal Intelligencer source.
“We approved settlements for approximately $60 million,” Brown told the AP.
The AP also learned that that $60 million covers about 25 of 31 claims from alleged Sandusky victims. That comes out to over $2 million per claim, although it is understood that each claim varies in severity and compensation.
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