A federal appeals court is reviving unsettled lawsuits against Ohio State University over decades-old sexual abuse by the late team doctor Richard Strauss.
A judge had dismissed most of the unsettled cases last year. The judge acknowledged it’s clear hundreds of young men were abused, but said the legal time limit for the claims had long passed.
The plaintiffs argued the clock didn’t start until the allegations came to light in 2018. A three-judge panel of the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the judge’s decision Wednesday and sent the case back to district court for further proceedings.
The lawsuits were filed a group of more than 100 former OSU students who have alleged sexual abuse by Strauss between 1978-1998. Strauss died in 2005.
In April, Ohio State reached a settlement agreement that totaled $1.995 million with an anticipated 57 additional survivors. Overall, Ohio State said they have reached settlement agreements with 289 survivors, more than half of the plaintiffs, for $59.79 million.
Hundreds of men say Strauss touched them inappropriately or assaulted them over the course of the doctor's decades-long career at the university. An independent investigation found that Ohio State officials knew about Strauss' misconduct as early as 1979, but failed to properly respond until 1996, and accusers say administrators willfully acted to hide the abuse.
