Penn State to Pay $59.7 Million to 26 Young Men Over Sandusky Child Sex Abuse

23 deals signed, six agreed to in principle, six claims still pending in court

Penn State said Monday it is paying $59.7 million to 26 young men over claims of child sexual abuse at the hands of former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.

The school said 23 deals are fully signed and three are agreements in principle, but did not disclose the names of the recipients. The school faces six other claims, and the university says it believes some of those do not have merit while others may produce settlements.

Comments

[concerned cynic]

A fundamental principle of tort law is that no one should profit from misfortune. Damages should be set to make people whole. I believe that punitive damages should be paid to the public purse, not the plaintiff.

60M to 26 men comes out to 2.3M per incident. That strikes me as ludicrously high. But the precedent will incentivise colleges to dismiss quickly the suspected perverts in their ranks.

I have read, once, that most of Sandusky's victims were the offspring of single mothers living in the ghettos of Pittsburgh and Philly. Hence this money will be an incredible jackpot. Sadly, this money is fated to go the way of nearly all lottery winnings.

Or will lawyers for the plaintiffs lay claim to 40% of the 60M??