Ohio State could face additional payouts to earlier Richard Strauss abuse survivors
The Ohio State University could face additional payments to survivors of former university physician Richard Strauss who settled their claims years before the university agreed to a $100 million settlement with another group of survivors this summer.
A provision in a 2020 master settlement agreement provides for a mediator to determine whether earlier claimants are owed additional compensation if survivors in future settlements receive a higher amount, according to WOSU.
The earlier settlement provided an average of $250,551 per claimant, while the $100 million settlement announced in June involving 279 survivors averages about $358,000 per claimant.
Strauss survivor Michael DiSabato said attorneys are reviewing the provision and other unresolved issues stemming from the settlement process.
“We are continuing to work through several significant unresolved issues arising from the Richard Strauss settlement process,” DiSabato said in a statement Monday.
DiSabato identified the 2020 agreement’s Most Favored Nations provision, compensation involving what he called the Football Leadership Group and claims involving additional groups of survivors among the unresolved matters.
He also said those groups include people who say Strauss abused them when they were children.
“Our attorneys are actively reviewing these matters, and we remain hopeful that Ohio State and plaintiffs’ counsel will engage with us promptly and in good faith to resolve them,” DiSabato said.
Ohio State spokesman Ben Johnson told WOSU that the university could not comment because mediation remains ongoing.
The university’s Board of Trustees approved the $100 million settlement in principle in June, resolving claims involving 279 of the 280 remaining Strauss survivors involved in the pending litigation. The university said at the time that confidential mediation would continue while the parties finalized individual settlements.
As Ohio.News previously reported, the agreement followed years of litigation alleging university officials failed to prevent sexual abuse by Strauss.
Strauss worked at Ohio State from 1978 to 1998. An independent investigation commissioned by the university concluded in 2019 that Strauss sexually abused at least 177 male student-patients and that university personnel failed to adequately respond to complaints about his conduct.
Ohio State has previously reached settlements with hundreds of other Strauss survivors. Before the latest agreement, the university said it had provided more than $61 million to 317 people.
DiSabato said Monday that the remaining issues should not remain unresolved indefinitely, noting that four months have passed since the latest settlement was announced.
“We would prefer to resolve these remaining issues constructively and privately rather than through continued litigation or public controversy,” DiSabato said.
The 2020 settlement provision allows a mediator to determine whether survivors who settled earlier are entitled to additional compensation based on the higher average amount provided under the university’s latest agreement.
