Lawyers for assault victims say that the $215 million USC settlement isn’t enough, and urge clients to opt out and seek higher compensation.

The University of Southern California announced on Oct. 19 that a class action lawsuit against the university has ended in a $215 million settlement. The settlement would resolve claims that the university failed to take sufficient action in light of accusations that a campus gynecologist, George Tyndall, had been sexually assaulting patients over the course of this decades-long employment with the university.

According to Law360, lawyers for assault victims have criticized the settlement as being much too low. Some lawyers are encouraging Class Members to opt out of the settlement deal so that they can pursue their own individual claims against the university and possibly receive higher compensation for their alleged abuses by Tyndall.

Under the proposed settlement deal, the nearly 400 Class Members will receive payments of anywhere between $2,500 to $250,000 per Class Member, Law360 reports.

According to many lawyers for assault victims, the settlement deal will not sufficiently compensate the women for their assaults. Additionally, some lawyers claim that given that the news about George Tyndall’s alleged record of assaults broke just five months ago, there hasn’t been enough time to discover the extent of the damage.

One attorney who represents 150 women in 150 state suits filed against the university says he will urge his clients to opt out of the settlement deal, saying that “[i]f this case wasn’t so serious, it would be hysterical how bad this settlement deal is… We know no more about who was responsible at USC than the day this case started.”

He went on to tell Law360 that “[t]o say my clients are angry is an understatement…It’s like being violated all over again, except this time by someone who is supposed to care about you.”

Lawyers for assault victims accused the university of reaching this settlement deal too quickly in an attempt to move on from the sexual assault scandal without letting the full truth come out.

Another attorney representing over 100 women told Law360 that the settlement deal is an attempt by USC to protect George Tyndall, as well as the university, “from what will most likely be damaging information about what Dr. Tyndall did and what USC failed to do,” in the face of what Class Members are saying was decades of abuse by the gynecologist.

In a statement issued by its attorney, the University of Southern California called the settlement one of many “corrective actions” it has taken to “prevent all forms of misconduct and to help heal the university community.” 

The USC George Tyndall Sexual Assault Class Action Lawsuit is In re: USC Student Center Litigation, Case No. 2:18-cv-04258, in the U.S. District Court for Central California.
UPDATE: July 2019, the USC, George Tyndall sexual misconduct class action settlement is now open.Click here to file a claim.