A federal court in California has given preliminary approval for a settlement in a massive sexual abuse class action involving 18,000 plaintiffs.

Women who attended the University of Southern California (USC) between 1989 and 2016 and claim they were assaulted by a campus physician will be eligible for a share of $215 million set aside for victim compensation. In addition, the University will pay up to $25 million to cover legal fees and court costs.

The accused, Dr. George Tyndall, has denied the allegations; he will also be a party to the settlement, thus ending the litigation against him personally and avoiding having to answer questions from plaintiffs’ counsel under oath.

The Allegations

Dr. Tyndall was reportedly hired by USC in August of 1989. For most of his tenure, he was the only full-time gynecologist at the University’s Engemann Student Health Center. Complaints about Tyndall’s conduct reportedly started in 1991 when an undergraduate student complained that he had taken “improper photographs” of her genitalia as well as full-body photos. Similar complaints continued over the years; during the 2003-04 academic year, two students reported that Tyndall would not allow chaperones to be present during examinations. Numerous women complained of inappropriate comments about their bodies and their sexuality.

Matters reportedly came to a head in 2016 when a nursing supervisor told the executive director of the USC Rape Crisis Center that Tyndall had been touching female students in an inappropriate manner. Tyndall was put on administrative leave while the allegations were investigated. In a confidential deal made the following year, he was offered a financial incentive to resign and left with a clean record with the California state medical board.

Criminal Investigation Into Sexual Abuse

Despite the secrecy surrounding Tyndall’s deal with USC, the skeletons refused to remain closeted. In May 2018, the L.A. Times published an explosive story, based on interviews with 20 former patients. That story sparked an ongoing police investigation, which so far has found an extensive collection of what appear to be pornographic images — some of which seem to have been taken in an examination room — in a storage unit Tyndall had rented. As of December 2018, over 230 women had filed criminal complaints with the Los Angeles Police Department.

Why Didn’t USC Report It?

Under California law, hospitals and clinics must file a report with the state medical board whenever a physician is suspended, disciplined, or fired. This automatically triggers an investigation; failure to file can result in significant penalties. Nonetheless, USC reportedly claimed the law didn’t apply in the case of Tyndall since the university was not subject to the same regulations. They said that complaints about Tyndall “were made as a human resources matter,” and that Tyndall had retired voluntarily.

Now, USC itself is on the hook for Tyndall’s alleged abuse because of this deliberate oversight.

The Settlement

Under the terms of the USC settlement, Class Members will be eligible for three tiers of compensation. Those who are willing to drop the matter will receive an automatic payment of $2500. Plaintiffs who share their stories in writing can expect to receive $7,500 to $20,000, while those willing to be interviewed about the impact the sexual abuse had on their lives can qualify for between $7,500 and $250,000, subject to pro rata adjustment.

The USC settlement comes in the context of increasing awareness of sexual harrasment and assault across the nation, incuding the Roman Catholic Church sex abuse scandal and others.

This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.