Penn State Reaches Settlement With First Of Abuse Victims

A man who claimed sexual abuse by former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky has reached a multi-million dollar settlement with the university, the first of numerous such claims expected to be resolved in the coming days.

The Philadelphia Inquirer first reported that the young man known as “Victim 5,” who took the stand at Sandusky’s criminal trial and sentencing last year, settled for several million dollars — though his attorney declined to reveal the exact dollar figure.

NPR’s Nathan Rott reports that the 25-year old victim’s testimony helped convict Sandusky on 45 counts of child sex abuse last year.

Twenty-six other settlements are expected to be reached this week. Penn State has set aside $60 million for those payouts.

Attorney Tom Kline, who represents ‘Victim 5’ confirmed the deal and told the Inquirer that the victim did not want to comment on the settlement other than to say that he was “relieved”.

Michael K. Rozen, a lawyer for the university, said there are “categories of relative value” between the many claims and that “‘Number 5,’ sits at the top of the top grouping. There may be one or two other claims up there as well.”

The Inquirer writes:

“Under the terms of each settlement, the victims have agreed not to sue Penn State or Second Mile, and cede their right to sue Second Mile to the university, which plans to go to court to try to get the charity’s insurer to reimburse the university for some of the claim amount, Rozen said.”