(AP) – The University of Michigan has agreed to a $490 million settlement with hundreds of people who say they were sexually assaulted by a former sports doctor at the school, those involved in the agreement said Wednesday.
Attorney Parker Stinar said that 1,050 people will share in the settlement, which was reached the night before.
ANN ARBOR, MI – JUNE 16: Jon Vaughn (R), former University of Michigan and former NFL football player, and Richard Goldman, a former UM student sports announcer, hug at a press conference on the University of Michigan campus on June 16, 2021 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Several dozen people are accusing the late Dr. Robert Anderson, former Head of University of Michigan Health Services and former UM football team doctor, of sexually abusing or sexually assaulting them. Matthew Schembechler, son of former Michigan football coach Bo Schembechler, and others have claimed they had notified Bo Schembechler about the abuse and that he had done nothing about it. Dr. Anderson passed away in 2008. (Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)
University spokesman Rick Fitzgerald confirmed the settlement and said a statement would be released later Wednesday.
“I am proud to announce that a settlement was reached with the 1,050 survivors of Robert Anderson and the University of Michigan,” Stinar said. “It has been a long and challenging journey, and I believe this settlement will provide justice and healing for the many brave men and women who refused to be silenced.”
The university had been in mediation to resolve multiple lawsuits by mostly men who said Anderson sexually abused them during routine medical examinations. Anderson worked at the university from 1966 until his 2003 retirement and was director of the university’s Health Service and a physician for multiple athletic teams, including football.
A number of football players and other athletes have come forward to accuse Anderson, who died in 2008, of sexually abusing them.
A report by a firm hired by the school determined that staff missed many opportunities to stop Anderson over his 37-year career.
The university regularly is ranked among the top public universities in the U.S.
The deal came just after two men who say they were sexually assaulted by Anderson said they were hoping that a change in leadership with the weekend firing of university President Mark Schlissel would allow the school be more accountable toward abuse victims.
Keith Moree and Robert Stone told reporters Tuesday that the Ann Arbor school is ripe for a culture change as its board conducts a search to permanently replace Schlissel, who was removed Saturday due to an alleged “inappropriate relationship with a university employee.”
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