U.S.C. Settles Sex Abuse Case for $1.1 Billion in Biggest Payout in Higher Education History
University of Southern California (U.S.C.) is paying out a staggering $1.1 billion settlement to 710 female patients of a campus gynecologist accused of sex abuse, George Tyndall. This payout is the largest sex abuse settlement and payout in the history of higher education.
U.S.C. attorneys announced the gigantic settlement in Los Angeles Superior Court last week. Plaintiffs accuse Tyndall of sexually preying upon female patients and college students over decades.
Rick Caruso, chairman of the U.S.C. board, released a statement about the settlement and sexual abuse scandal.
“The behavior that was discovered shocks the conscience of the university to its core,” said Caruso. Our institution fell short by not doing everything it could to protect those who matter most — our students, and I am sorry for the pain this caused the very people we were obligated to protect.”
This scandal is responsible for numerous lawsuits against U.S.C. for the massive gynecology sexual abuse allegations.
Before this settlement, U.S.C. had agreed to pay out $215 million in a federal class-action suit filed by thousands of students and alumnae in 2018. The total $1.1 billion settlement represents the payouts for the three different lawsuits brought by U.S.C. women for collegiate sexual abuse on campus by Tyndall.
The university had settled about fifty more sexual abuse cases for undisclosed payments as well. With this new settlement of $852 million for the 710 plaintiffs, the final settlement payout for all three lawsuits is $1.1 billion.
U.S.C. officials said the settlement is “the end of a painful and ugly chapter in the history of our university.” Attorneys worked with a Los Angeles Superior court judge plus a private mediator to work out the settlement details.
Last week’s settlement will be shared among the hundreds of plaintiffs in numerous amounts of awards, from $250,000 to millions of dollars.
Attorney John C. Manly represented the 710 plaintiffs and said U.S.C. agreed to the giant payout because “there was culpability. They knew early on, in the early ’90s and all the way through his tenure that this was happening.”
U.S.C. President Carol Folt said in a statement, “The university reached an agreement on an $852 million settlement with 710 former patients who filed suit in California state court. Combined with the $215 million federal class-action agreement reached in 2018 and other settlements, the total amount paid to the federal and state plaintiffs will exceed $1.1 billion.”
Looking at the sheer numbers of this $1.1 billion settlement, other sex abuse scandals in higher education pale in comparison.
Allegations of sexual abuse by Tyndall at U.S.C. date back to the 1990s.The Los Angeles Times won a Pulitzer Prize for its investigative reporting on the sexual abuse by Tyndall of U.S.C. students in 2018.
The university set up a website and a hotline in 2018 after thousands of complaints by U.S.C. students were filed. U.S.C. also sent emails out to about 350,000 people, including students, alumni, and others, with information about the complaints and how to add a complaint if needed. U.S.C. president C.L. Max Nikias resigned due to the sexual abuse scandal.
The university has implemented new safeguards and reforms, including:
• Comprehensive patient education materials about sensitive examinations and new sensitive exam policies that reflect the best practices of the American College Health Association.
• Hired more female, board-certified physicians
• Created new ways for students to collect and share information about potential misconduct
• Expanded the "Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention” program to include ten more full-time employees.
Despite the 1,000 plus allegations against Tyndall dating from the 1990s until today, he was not suspended until 2016. He was arrested in 2019 and charged with twenty-nine counts of sexual assault against sixteen U.S.C. women.
Tyndall denies all allegations, has pled not guilty, and is currently out on bail.
