Lawsuits Against Ohio State University Over Sex Abuse By A Team Doctor Are Dismissed

Enlarge this image

A judge has dismissed some of the biggest lawsuits against Ohio State University over sexual abuse by Dr. Richard Strauss against student athletes.

Angie Wang/AP

hide caption

toggle caption

Angie Wang/AP

National
More Than 100 Former Ohio State Students Allege Abuse By School Doctor

But many of the men who’d been continuing the legal fight argued that the university hadn’t treated them fairly and had thus added to their trauma. They maintained that the earlier settlements were too small and that they deserve compensation more comparable to other recent sexual abuse scandals in higher education. They point to Michigan State’s $500 million settlement for 500-plus female victims of now-imprisoned sports doctor Larry Nassar, and the University of Southern California’s $852 million settlement with more than 700 women who accused a gynecologist of sexual abuse.

Unlike those cases, the Ohio State accusers can’t confront Strauss, who died in 2005. Since his family’s initial statement of shock, no one has publicly defended him.

He had retired in 1998 with an unblemished employment file. Other records show there was a state medical board investigation about Strauss in 1996, but he was never disciplined.

Current officials at the board say evidence of misconduct was ignored in that case but that they can’t determine now why his case was closed back then.