Michigan State paying out $500 million - Is it excessive? That's $10,000 per student

They'll probably secure a substantial line of credit and use that to pay it off in conjunction with an established payment plan from the court since I doubt they'll be able to pay $500 million at once, and then they'll adjust their annual budget to include repayments at the expense of shiny new stone walkways or whatever they were planning.

1) Yes. If I was the insurance company lawyers I'd be going over the policy and seeing if there's any way out of it.

2) Yes.

3) The lawyers will find a way to make money off of this - it's what they're good at. But assume a third of the $500 million will get to attorneys.

Also assume that victims won't see the money for at least a few years. This will drag on for a while.

Nuke East Lansing from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

Insurance companies can't "object" to a settlement because they aren't parties to the dispute. Their rights are determined mostly by the terms of the policy, which could be very detailed, but could also be vague on key points. For high dollar claims, it's quite normal for insurance litigators to represent the insurer and the insured in working out an agreement. They don't usually go to court over it, but they'll rattle the saber a bit about what the policy really requires, whether a party has complied with the terms, etc.

Individual victims can both object (i.e., as the court not to approve the settlement) or opt-out (choose not to be a part of it, so they receive no compensation but they don't have to give up their claims either, so they can still sue).

Lawyers don't take a flat percentage in class action settlements. There's a process for calculating their compensation. It takes into account the amount of time that they spent and the difficulty of the case.

Punitive means it has to hurt.

John Utah wrote:

Kennekuk Jack wrote:

Is it excessive? It's more like a good start. Administrators and board members need to be fired and put in jail. The entire sports program needs to be given the death penalty yesterday. This case is the epitome of a lack of institutional control. If the university goes bankrupt (and I do hope it doesn't come to that), maybe other universities will begin to have greater oversight of their programs.

Then, once they get this fixed, maybe they can make the water in Flint safe to drink again.

Self-righteous and judgemental you are.

Nothing self-righteous in that post. And this entire thread is about judging a judgment. So what's your point again?

The Overexplainer wrote:

Luv2Run wrote:

I heard that as well.

Also, I do not appreciate someone changing the title of my original post.

They did it to make you look less stupid.

My original title did not include the question about being excessive. See that is just the issue with changing the title of a thread.

use common sense wrote:

depends......... wrote:

Imagine every single one of them being a rape victim at Michigan State. That's how large this is.

I don't believe a single one was a rape victim. The vast majority were given some weird massage which is apparently a medical thing but he did it without gloves. The vast majority may have felt uncomfortable but didn't realize it was sexual assault until everyone else got up in arms about it. A million is way too much. Way too much.

That weird massage was a finger up a girl's vagina supposedly to help with a hip issue.

Let's say a doc put his finger up your rear to help with a hip issue you were having.

Karl Hungus wrote:

1) Yes. If I was the insurance company lawyers I'd be going over the policy and seeing if there's any way out of it.

2) Yes.

3) The lawyers will find a way to make money off of this - it's what they're good at. But assume a third of the $500 million will get to attorneys.

Also assume that victims won't see the money for at least a few years. This will drag on for a while.

Nuke East Lansing from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

I do not think this will drag on in terms of payouts. MSU settled. It wants this out of the news as soon as possible.

a famous poster wrote:

here are some insights wrote:

Heard an interview of a MSU administrator yesterday. Little or any will come from taxpayers. They'll get the funds from insurance and tuition. So the math thrown out so far is stupid and invalid. Typical reactionary letsrunners.

Tuition? Who do you think pays tuition? It's MIchigan taxpayers. This is a horrible situation but I can see someone being upset that a current 17 year old who wasn't even at Michigan State is now going to have to shell out $10k to this monster.

There is no such thing as free money. It's a public institution.

Just the ones who go to MSU pay tuition. Technically that is not taxpayer money.

This might make you feel a little less comfortable.

The police began an investigation.

You really are pretty ignorant about this story, aren't you?

depends......... wrote:

There are 300 separate victims. At least. THREE HUNDRED. For comparison's sake - there were just over 300 runners who started the US Olympic Marathon trials in Los Angeles in 2016. Imagine every single one of them being a rape victim at Michigan State. That's how large this is.

.

Are you that stupid? 300 victims said nothing for decades? Do you believe that?

Kudos to that dad who tried to get at Nassar in court.[/quote]

That man is a saint

Santa Claus wrote:

depends......... wrote:

There are 300 separate victims. At least. THREE HUNDRED. For comparison's sake - there were just over 300 runners who started the US Olympic Marathon trials in Los Angeles in 2016. Imagine every single one of them being a rape victim at Michigan State. That's how large this is.

.

Are you that stupid? 300 victims said nothing for decades? Do you believe that?

Not unusual. Look at cases involving the Catholic priests. There is a case at my high school where dozens of guys kept quiet for several decades.

Hmmmm

Michigan State paying out $500 million - Is it excessive? That's $10,000 per student

http://www.gari.pk/news/

Here is what bothers me about this settlement:

1. MSU is a public, taxpayer subsidized institution, not a person capable of a coverup or a crime. The persons responsible for these alleged coverups, if any (there have been no arrests), are not being punished by this settlement -- students and taxpayers are.

2. How is MSU more responsible than the silent victims and those close to the victims (i.e. parents) who observed these crimes over the years and did not report them? Shouldn't they be sued, as well? Also, why are these victims coming forward now?

3. $500 million is not enough money to properly compensate the injustices these women have endured. This, I agree with. I would even argue that there is no amount of money that will compensate these women for injustices they have endured. So why are we acting like turning sexual assault victims into millionaires will make everything "all right"? How has "justice" been served by holding an entire public institution and those who sustain it accountable for the actions of a few individuals within that institution?

This is all about money, not justice. It punishes no one who was actually connected to this crime. What's worse is that it fills the pockets of lawyers as much as it does the pockets of actual victims. It encourages future settlements like this one, where the criminal pays nothing and the innocents pay all. Those of you believe anything other than this, and who think that MSU should pay this and more, might want to consider the implications. It's MSU now, but it could be your place of business tomorrow, or your church, or your local police department, etc..

There are hundreds of victims of sexual assault per DAY. Is it the general consensus that the public should bear the burden of punitive damages on behalf of the criminals who commit these acts? Would you like the Federal Government to provide damages to the victims of sexual assault? I can tell you that awarding $1 million + to every victim of sexual assault in the United States will quickly bankrupt us.

P.S. Please don't waste my time telling me how it's "not" going to come from taxpayer funds. Michigan State is funded by taxpayers, students, and donors. Even funds from insurance companies come from "somewhere". In any case, the money is coming from the bank accounts of people who are completely innocent of this crime, and that is a REAL problem.

Karl Hungus wrote:

Nuke East Lansing from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

Karl proves once again why he's my favorite poster on LRC.

You watch - student tuition will increase...over the next whatever number of years to cover this debacle; football and basketball season tickets and corp sponsors are not going to cover these losses. Despite a number of very good colleges / universities in the state, the majority of hs grads opt for MSU.

Attorneys are billing at $900 per hour. Reduced fee...allegedly