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Calley: Michigan State University should stop fighting lawsuits from Nassar's victims

MSU must refocus on doing what is right for the survivors and create a new paradigm for the treatment of sexual assault victims.
Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley during a meeting in January 2016 in Flint.(Photo: Salwan Georges, Detroit Free Press)

Leadership at Michigan State University needs to abandon its adversarial legal approach toward survivors of Larry Nassar and the culture that allowed him to hurt people for so long. Though Interim President John Engler has made some changes, the university's legal approach has not changed. The current path won’t work — not for MSU and certainly not for the survivors who shouldn’t be dragged through years of litigation.

MSU’s reputation can never be fully restored, but the university can help write the last chapter in this tragedy with a bold change in their legal strategy. Doing so requires breaking the conventional rules and placing the victims’ interests ahead of its own. Hammering survivors in court is wrong. There is another way.

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Instead, of fighting in court through defense lawyers, MSU must refocus on doing what is right for the survivors and create a new paradigm for the treatment of sexual assault victims. By embracing a bold, survivor-oriented plan, MSU will start the long process of moving forward, aligned with the survivors. Michigan State should:

  1. Immediately instruct lawyers to drop all attempts to dismiss survivor lawsuits.
  2. Create a victim compensation fund to prevent re-victimization of survivors at hundreds of trials. Set aside substantial resources for this fund —likely hundreds of millions of dollars. This process could potentially be expanded to include funds from insurance companies, USA Gymnastics, the United States Olympic Committee and any other liable organization with claims against them.
  3. To mediate and process claims, appoint an experienced victim compensation fund director, such as Kenneth Feinberg, who handled the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund or retired federal Judges Jerry Rosen and Steven Rhodes who guided Detroit through bankruptcy. A truly independent and experienced mediator can help all parties move forward with less confrontation and more healing.
  4. MSU and insurers must stop stonewalling and trying to use technicalities to get survivor lawsuits thrown out. A package of bills, led by survivors and state Sen. Margaret O’Brien, were recently introduced to better align Michigan law with the rights and interests of all sexual assault survivors. These bills have my full support. I encourage the Legislature to ensure this initiative provides strong leverage and equal legal footing for all survivors.
  5. Treat survivors whose claims may be barred by the statute of limitations the same as those whose claims are not barred. MSU should do so out of its own funds if insurance does not apply. To deny compensation to a victim undeniably harmed by an unspeakable act simply because the claim has aged is wrong. MSU must seek justice outside of conventional defense rules.

Establishing a well-funded mediation and claims process accelerates the speed of financial recoveries, reduces the risk of trial, creates certainty for victims, aligns MSU with its survivors, reduces legal costs, eliminates painful discovery and trial damage to the survivors and MSU, allows MSU to constructively deal with a decades long tragedy, and eliminates appellate risk for both the survivors and MSU.

This approach could be the first step toward MSU living up to its storied history — and a bold one at that.

Brian Calley is Michigan's lieutenant governor. He is running for governor.

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