UCLA to Pay $243.6 Million to Alleged Sexual Abuse

The settlement covers nearly 50 cases involving 203 women who said they were groped or otherwise abused by James Heaps over a career spanning 35 years. Lawyers said each would receive $1.2 million.

The parties said that after much litigation, the settlement was reached with the help of a private mediator.

The lawsuits say UCLA ignored decades of complaints and deliberately concealed the abuse.

A UCLA statement said, “Heaps’ conduct is reprehensible and contrary to the values ​​of the University. We express our gratitude to the brave individuals who have come forward, and hope that this settlement will go toward healing and closure.” One step.” For the plaintiff involved.”

Two women said that Dr. Heaps had abused him, spoke at an afternoon news conference.

“I’ve been waiting 20 years for this day,” said Julie Wallach, who said she was abused by Dr. Heaps in the late 1990s—but when she reported it to UCLA and the state medical board Granted, “no one listened.”

“There was no one else to go there. I mean, who do you fight?” he said. “It’s emotional toll over the years has been tremendous.”

Cara Cagle said she was attacked by Dr Heaps eight years ago, while she was undergoing grueling treatment for a rare form of breast cancer.

“I could never have imagined that during that time someone would have taken such a disgusting advantage of me. It was so painful that I left in tears,” she said, “my heart breaks for all the women who were not spared.”

The University of California, Los Angeles in 2017 awarded Dr. Heaps, and he retired the following year after the school refused to renew his contract. Last year he was charged with 21 sexual offenses involving seven women. He pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing.

John C. Manley, one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys, called Dr. Heaps a sophisticated stalker who abused under the guise of common medical procedures such as pelvic and breast examinations. He said many of the people who made allegations of abuse were cancer patients.

“The criminals are not the pretentious ghosts that the media openly portrays them to be,” he said. “They’re nice people, they’re friendly, they’re polite, they have a good reputation, and that’s what these women suffered.”

Mr Manley said the University of California System of Regents decided to resolve the claims rather than “unnecessarily cause further harm to these survivors”, and made the resolution a model for other universities facing similar claims. said.

Mr Manley said thousands of doctors practicing nationwide have administrative and criminal convictions for molesting their patients, and urged federal lawmakers to take steps to protect the public.

The lawsuits were among hundreds that were filed against Dr. Allegations of abuse by Heaps. UCLA settled a similar lawsuit last year in which more than 100 women said that between 1983 and 2018, Dr. Heaps groped women, faked sex with ultrasound probes, or made inappropriate remarks during exams at the UCLA Student Health Center, Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. Or his on-campus office.

Under that $73 million class-action settlement, some 6,600 former patients were to receive between $2,500 and $250,000, depending on the extent of physical injury and emotional distress, as determined by a panel of experts.

UCLA did not admit to wrongdoing in reaching that settlement, but agreed to change its procedures for preventing, detecting, investigating, and dealing with sexual misconduct.

The latest settlement follows similar massive payments by universities – including prestigious schools such as Ohio State, Johns Hopkins and Columbia – over allegations that doctors misbehaved with thousands of patients.

Last month, the University of Michigan announced a $490 million settlement with more than 1,000 people who say they were sexually assaulted by Robert Anderson, a sports doctor during his nearly four-decade career at the school. He died in 2008.

Last March, UCLA’s crosstown rival, the University of Southern California, agreed an $852 million settlement with more than 700 women who accused its longtime campus gynecologist, Dr. George Tyndall, of sexual abuse. . USC reached a $215 million settlement in 2018 in a separate lawsuit.

Dr. Tyndall, who worked at the school for nearly 30 years, has pleaded not guilty to dozens of criminal sexual misconduct counts.

The USC settlements announced in 2018 by Michigan State University have so far exceeded one. The $500 million settlement was considered the largest of its kind at the time – settling the claims of more than 300 women and girls who said they were assaulted by Larry Nassar, a campus sports doctor and USA There was a doctor for gymnastics.