Alleged victims of former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky are working with at least two legal teams to prepare civil lawsuits against the university—seeking damages from the university over administrators’ failure to take action.
“This may be the most high-profile sexual abuse case ever,” says Benjamin Andreozzi, a Harrisburg, Pa., lawyer who is representing at least one of the victims listed in grand jury filings. Adreozzi noted that once other potential victims see that they’re “not alone,” perhaps they’ll come forward, too.
A second lawyer who requested anonymity told The Daily Beast he was representing another alleged victim.
Eight victims of alleged sexual predator Sandusky, the 67-year-old former Penn State assistant football coach, have been listed in a grand jury filing that was released last week—and at least one more is believed to have come forward since then. A source inside the state police told
The Daily Beast last week that phone lines set up for victims and tips have been flooded with calls.
Attorneys close to the cases, meanwhile, believe the number of victims will grow dramatically in the coming days. “I think things are going to be fast and furious over the next weeks,” says Manning J. O’Connor, an attorney in Pittsburgh who has been following the case.
Since Sandusky’s arrest, two higher-ups have been charged with making false statements when they denied having been told of an assault that allegedly took place on campus. Sandusky’s direct boss, the head coach of the school’s football team, Joe Paterno, was fired last week, leading to riots on campus. And while it could take months, or even years, for civil suits to reach a courtroom, there is no doubt that legal teams are plotting their next moves.
Matt Rourke / AP Photo
“If the allegations are true, the institution’s silence, and failure to act, not only emboldened a predator, but silences the victims,” says Andrew Shubin, a State College, Pa., attorney, who has been litigating civil rights cases for 21 years. “These children must have believed that the institution didn’t care about them, because it did nothing to protect them.”
There are a few ways civil lawsuits might come together, say experts. It’s likely that attorneys would file a federal civil rights action—arguing that the administration violated the victims’ 14th amendment right to bodily integrity in its failure to notify the appropriate authorities. This is a tactic commonly used in cases involving sexual assault.
“I think things are going to be fast and furious over the next weeks,” one attorney said.
“A civil-rights lawsuit,” says Shubin, “is a way in which victims of abusers can hold perpetrators—and those who enabled and covered for them—accountable when all other systems have failed them.”
There is also the possibility of a state action—against individual administrators—that would charge them with negligence. A suit looking for monetary damages from Sandusky is also likely. And then, of course, there is Second Mile, the nonprofit that Sandusky founded, from where he allegedly recruited his prey. There is plenty of speculation about how much administrators at the organization knew—as well whether the center could lose $3 million in state funding promised to the organization for the construction of a 45,000-square foot
learning center that was supposed to come with dorm rooms, locker areas, and showers.
In Pennsylvania, the statute of limitations for childhood victims of sexual abuse to file a civil claim is age 30—which would give attorneys some time, since most of the known victims are in their 20s.
And as for the criminal filings? At least one attorney has speculated that there could be more to come in the way of a federal charge for Sandusky taking his victims across state lines. A woman who had children with Jerry Sundusky’s adopted son has also filed a
court plea to keep Sandusky from having unsupervised contact or overnight visits with his grandchildren. According to the
Patriot News, which broke the story of the Sandusky investigation in early 2010, Matt Sandusky took his children to his father’s house the same day the former coach was arrested.
Will more victims ultimately come forward? “Each person deals with it in a different way, and some people may feel comfortable and it may be part of the healing process,” says Andreozzi.
But the healing process won’t be easy.
“Very few people come out unfazed by something like this,” says Alan Perer, a Pittsburgh attorney who represented dozens of victims in the Catholic archdiocese scandal. “They grow up, they either have problems with alcohol or drugs, it goes on for the rest of your life. You just don’t get over it.”
With reporting by Kevin Cirilli in State College, Pa.
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Jessica Bennett is a senior writer and editor at Newsweek and The Daily Beast, covering social issues, gender, sex, and culture. She has won three Front Page Awards, and has been honored by the Society of Professional Journalists, the New York Press Club, and GLAAD, among other organizations. She also edits the Newsweek Tumblr. Follow her on Tumblr.
Jacob Bernstein is a senior reporter at The Daily Beast. He has also written for New York magazine, Paper, and The Huffington Post.
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Poster Comment:
This is one reason Pedd State is pouring on the coals to keep as much of this covered up as possible. The potential here is that it could cost the university hundreds of millions in damages both real and punitive. It is a foregone conclusion that "The Second (s)Mile Foundation" is toast. They will be sued out of existence and no one is going to donate to a known pedophile front organization.
It is going to be interesting following this, although I find stench of evil sickening, to see how successfully the cover-up is put into place and how many mid-level pervs will be sacrificed to protect the high level pervs.
