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| FILE - In this Jan. 10, 2013, file photo, former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky arrives at the Centre County Courthouse for a post-sentencing hearing in Bellefonte, Pa. A lawyer says his client is the first to settle a civil claim against Penn State related to the Sandusky child sexual abuse case. Attorney Tom Kline confirmed in an email that the client known as Victim 5 when he testified at Sandusky's criminal trial has agreed to terms with the university. |
HARRISBURG, Pa.
(AP) -- Penn State may never be able to fully shake off the Jerry
Sandusky child molestation scandal, but news that one victim has settled
and other claimants may be soon follow marks a legal milestone after
almost a year of negotiations.
Attorney Tom
Kline said Saturday that a 25-year-old suburban Philadelphia man known
as "Victim 5" in court filings had completed the agreement with the
university, the first to come to terms with the university that once
employed Sandusky as an assistant football coach.
Another
attorney, Mike Boni, one of four lawyers collectively representing 10
claimants - including the young man whose complaint triggered the
Sandusky criminal investigation - said Sunday those claims were also
close to being resolved.
"I'd be troubled if it didn't happen this week," Boni said. "We're not signed off, but we're close."
Another lawyer, Jeff Anderson, said his two cases are not that near to being resolved.
"It's
still a work in progress," Anderson told The Associated Press on
Sunday. "If somebody's talking about they have deals done, it's not us."
The
Philadelphia Inquirer reported Saturday that 26 of 31 claims are close
to being settled, which would validate the strategy used by Penn State
to compensate Sandusky's victims, said Richard Serbin, an Altoona lawyer
who has represented sex abuse victims for 25 years.
"I
would be very surprised if any of these cases ends up in trial," Serbin
said. "They may end up going forward in litigation, but that does not
mean they will not be resolved before getting to the courthouse steps."
Penn
State announced a year ago - the day Sandusky was convicted of 45
criminal counts - that it hoped to compensate his victims fairly and
quickly. Penn State's trustees have authorized some $60 million to be
used for settlements.
The deals appear to be
coming together as three former school administrators await trial for an
alleged cover-up and other actions after getting complaints about
Sandusky. A district judge recently ruled there was enough evidence to
send the cases against former president Graham Spanier, former vice
president Gary Schultz and former Tim Curley to county court for trial.
All three deny the allegations.
The settlements may not affect those cases at all, Serbin said.
"I certainly don't think it impedes the prosecution, but I'm not quite certain it helps them, either," he said.
Kline's
client, who took the stand at Sandusky's criminal trial and sentencing
last year, signed off on the agreement on Friday and should get paid
within a month.
The man was identified by name in court, but the AP does not name people who are victims of sex crimes
without their consent.
Kline
said that as part of the agreement, his client assigned his claim to
Penn State, effectively giving the university a better chance to recover
the money from other parties, such as The Second Mile, a charity for
at-risk youth that Sandusky founded.
Boni said
the same question was an issue in the settlement talks involving Victim
1, who has come forward to identify himself as Aaron Fisher and written
a book about the experience.
"It enables Penn
State to go after the insurers and Second Mile," the Sandusky-founded
charity where he met at least some of his victims, Boni said. "Whether
Penn State ever does or not, who knows."
A
spokesman for the university declined comment Saturday on Victim 5's
deal, saying the school "continues to make progress on multiple
settlements."
At Sandusky's trial, Victim 5
testified that he met the coach at a Second Mile camp in 1999 and went
to Penn State games with him. He said that Sandusky groped him in the
showers during a workout - the incident occurred after another assistant
coach reported seeing Sandusky attacking a child in a locker room
shower.
Kline said the agreement does not
prevent Victim 5 from talking or writing about his experience, although
he has no plans to do so.
"We hope that there
is closure, but I can tell you on his behalf that he understands there
(are) continuing proceedings, because this case has had, and continues
to have, many long tentacles," Kline said.
Sandusky,
69, is serving a 30- to 60-year state prison sentence for child
molestation and related offenses. He is pursuing appeals.
The
response of university leaders, including former coach Joe Paterno, was
heavily criticized in a report commissioned by the school last year.
Paterno died in January 2012.
The school has spent nearly $50 million on the Sandusky scandal, not including any payments to the victims and accusers.
