Claimants: Penn St. slow to settlements

Associated Press

STATE COLLEGE, Pa.

Nearly three months after Penn State said it wanted to settle “privately, expeditiously and fairly” with the boys Jerry Sandusky sexually abused, lawyers for the victims from his criminal case and other potential claimants say the school has not followed up with concrete action.

The attorneys told The Associated Press in recent days that they had very limited contact with the university and, if that continues, more lawsuits may follow the four now under way.

“I believe there has been a window of opportunity, which is closing, despite enormous patience by the lawyers who represent the victims,” said Philadelphia attorney Tom Kline, who represents a young man who testified during Sandusky’s criminal trial he was fondled in a school shower in 2001.

Kline and the other lawyers told the AP that they will not wait indefinitely for the university to propose a settlement process stemming from Sandusky’s conviction in June on 45 counts of sexual abuse of 10 boys. The former assistant football coach awaits sentencing and will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Since Sandusky was charged more than 10 months ago, eight legal teams that together represent at least 20 people have surfaced. Already dealing with a $60 million NCAA fine and a tarnished reputation, the school faces potential civil claims that could lead to payouts of millions, even tens of millions, of dollars.

Penn State spokesman Dave La Torre said the school has had “multiple conversations” with victims’ lawyers, but offered no specifics.

Some lawyers say they have heard little or nothing from the university since school President Rodney Erickson announced the night of the Sandusky verdict that the university planned to contact them, in the near future, and invite them to participate in a program “to facilitate the resolution of claims against the university” by providing “a forum where the university can privately, expeditiously and fairly address the victims’ concerns and compensate them for claims relating to the university.”

How that would work remains unclear.