Men abused by Ohio State doctor ask court to revive lawsuits

Jul 26, 2022, 11:42 AM | Updated: 12:10 pm

Attorneys for some of the men who sued Ohio State University over decades-old sexual abuse by a team doctor argued Tuesday that a federal appeals court should overturn a judge’s dismissal and let the lawsuits continue toward trial.

But a lawyer for the school contends their claims were made years too late. If the doctor’s behavior and Ohio State’s inaction during his tenure were as egregious as alleged, he argued, the students knew enough that, legally speaking, they should have started looking into further recourse back then.

Hundreds of alumni have alleged the late Dr. Richard Strauss abused them throughout his two decades at the school, and that Ohio State officials knew of complaints but failed to stop him. The university publicly apologized and said it has tried to respond with transparency and empathy while trying to resolve the cases through settlements, which so far total more than $60 million for 296 survivors.

A judge dismissed most of the unsettled cases, acknowledging that abuse occurred but agreeing with the school’s argument that the legal time limit for the claims had long passed. Two groups totaling more than 100 survivors appealed that decision, contending the two-year window for that didn’t start until the allegations were brought to light in 2018 when the men began to speak out and the school hired a law firm to investigate.

Most didn’t recognize their experiences as abuse until then, and any who did recognize it earlier still didn’t know until a few years ago that the university was a cause of the abuse through its inaction, an attorney for the plaintiffs argued Tuesday before a three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The students didn’t know during Strauss’ tenure that OSU’s indifference allowed abuse to continue because the school concealed its complicity, including by not reporting allegations to authorities and by hiding the findings of disciplinary proceedings against Strauss, attorney Ilann Maazel told the judges.

Exactly what school leaders knew while Strauss was working there was a question the university said it was trying to answer when it announced its investigation in 2018, Maazel noted.

“And if they didn’t know in 2018, how on earth did students and teenagers know that in the 1980s and 1990s?” Maazel said.

The lawyer representing the university, Michael Carpenter, said Ohio State sought to dismiss the claims not out of disrespect toward the alumni or their allegations, but because the window for the men to file such Title IX claims was decades ago, when the abuse was occurring.

“They knew they were telling folks about it, and it was still continuing on,” Carpenter told the judges. “They knew it was pervasive. And they knew it was affecting them.”

The men have alleged that Strauss abused them during required physicals and other medical exams at campus athletic facilities, a student health center, his home and an off-campus clinic, and that complaints were raised as early as the late 1970s.

Strauss died in 2005. No one has publicly defended him.

___

Find Franko on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/kantele10.

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

AP

(Pixabay Photo)...

Associated Press

Oath Keeper from Arizona sentenced for role in Jan. 6 riot at US Capitol

Edward Vallejo, a U.S. Army veteran from Phoenix, oversaw a “Quick Reaction Force” at a Virginia hotel that was prepared to deploy an arsenal of weapons into Washington if needed, authorities say.

1 day ago

FILE - U.S. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz listens during a news conference, Jan. 5, 2023, in Washi...

Associated Press

US Border Patrol chief is retiring after seeing through end of Title 42 immigration restrictions

The head of the U.S. Border Patrol announced Tuesday that he was retiring, after seeing through a major policy shift that seeks to clamp down on illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border following the end of Title 42 pandemic restrictions.

2 days ago

FILE - President Joe Biden talks with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of Calif., on the House steps as...

Associated Press

House OKs debt ceiling bill to avoid default, sends Biden-McCarthy deal to Senate

The House approved a debt ceiling and budget cuts package late Wednesday, as President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy assembled a bipartisan coalition of centrist Democrats and Republicans against fierce conservative blowback and progressive dissent.

2 days ago

Sean Bickings (Family Photo via city of Tempe)...

Associated Press

Family of man who drowned last year in Tempe Town Lake files wrongful death lawsuit

The family of a man who drowned in Tempe Town Lake a year ago filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city Wednesday, noting that its police department doesn't have a policy requiring officers to go into the water to save someone.

2 days ago

(Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP)Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS...

Associated Press

Florida police search for 3 gunmen who wounded 9 at crowded beach on Memorial Day

Police are responding to a shooting near the beach broadwalk in Hollywood, Florida.

4 days ago

Crew members assemble the main stage ahead of the 2023 Scripps Nations Spelling Bee on Sunday, May ...

Associated Press

Exclusive secrets of the National Spelling Bee: Picking the words to identify a champion

As the final pre-competition meeting of the Scripps National Spelling Bee's word selection panel stretches into its seventh hour, the pronouncers no longer seem to care.

4 days ago

Sponsored Articles

...

DAY & NIGHT AIR CONDITIONING, HEATING AND PLUMBING

Here are the biggest tips to keep your AC bill low this summer

PHOENIX — In Arizona during the summer, having a working air conditioning unit is not just a pleasure, but a necessity. No one wants to walk from their sweltering car just to continue to be hot in their home. As the triple digits hit around the Valley and are here to stay, your AC bill […]

(Photo: OCD & Anxiety Treatment Center)...

OCD & Anxiety Treatment Center

Here’s what you need to know about OCD and where to find help

It's fair to say that most people know what obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders generally are, but there's a lot more information than meets the eye about a mental health diagnosis that affects about one in every 100 adults in the United States.

(Photo by Michael Matthey/picture alliance via Getty Images)...

Cox Communications

Valley Boys & Girls Club uses esports to help kids make healthy choices

KTAR’s Community Spotlight focuses on the Boys & Girls Club of the Valley and the work to incorporate esports into children's lives.

Men abused by Ohio State doctor ask court to revive lawsuits