- More than 1,000 people who said they were abused by a former
University of Michigan athletics doctor reached a $490 million settlement with the school. - Former students say they were molested by the doctor in routine physicals dating back to the 1970s.
More than 1,000 people who say a former University of Michigan athletics doctor sexually abused them reached a $490 million settlement with the school late Tuesday.
The group receiving the settlement includes former University of Michigan athletes and students who say former football team doctor Robert Anderson molested them during regular physical examinations that date back to the 1970s, lawyers for many of the alleged victims, told the New York Times.
There are 1,050 former University of Michigan athletes and students who have filed lawsuits in federal court accusing the school of not acting when it knew of reports of abuse, the Detroit Free Press reported.
The agreed-upon settlement is one of the largest ever between a US university and
A settlement comes more than three years after whistleblower and former University of Michigan wrestler Tad DeLuca wrote to the university's athletics director, Warde Manuel, accusing Anderson of abusing him in the 1970s, ESPN reported when DeLuca spoke out for the first time in 2020.
DeLuca's letter prompted a police investigation, the school told NBC News in 2020, though Washtenaw County prosecutors declined to press charges in part because Anderson died in 2008, ESPN reported.
In the years since DeLuca's allegations were made public, hundreds of others have said Anderson abused them, including Matt Schembechler, the son of late Michigan football coach Bo Schembechler, who said at a press conference in June that Anderson abused him.
Anderson worked at the University of Michigan from 1968 to 2003.
A report commissioned by the University of Michigan published in May 2021 found that the school had received several reports of accusations against Anderson over several decades and failed to act.
The report said that when the University of Michigan asked people who say Anderson abused them to come forward in February 2020, they received more than 100 reports in two weeks.
Meanwhile many lawsuits filed against the University of Michigan accusing Anderson of abuse, including the first filed, were done so anonymously, according to the Detroit Free Press.
Official mediation for a settlement began in October 2020, according to the university, but the school began looking into claims of abuse against Anderson in February of the same year, the Times reported.
"The University of Michigan has accepted responsibility financially and otherwise for harm that was caused by Anderson to so many young people that could have been avoided," attorney Jamie White, who represents some of the former students who say Anderson abused them, said in a statement shared with the Detroit Free Press.
"The university should be commended and not condemned," White added. "Most of our clients had a strong love for the university and did not want to see permanent damage, but wanted accountability. I believe we accomplished those goals yesterday."
Of the $490 million total settlement, $460 million will be available to the approximately 1,050 claimants, and $30 million will be reserved for future claimants who choose to participate in the settlement before July 31, 2023, according to a statement from the University of Michigan shared with Insider.
"We hope this settlement will begin the healing process for survivors," said Jordan Acker, chair of the University of Michigan Board of Regents. "At the same time, the work that began two years ago, when the first brave survivors came forward, will continue."