In one of the largest university settlement cases, the University of Southern California (USC) has agreed to an $852 million USD settlement in addition to their previous $215 million settlement approved by the federal court. The total settlement is even larger than many of the settlements that followed the child sex abuse crisis in the Roman Catholic Church. Ironically, both are closely related to Catholicism (USC was founded as a private Catholic school) and involve sexual misconduct scandals. In total, 18,000 women were identified to be part of the class action according to records at the USC Health Center. All were patients who were subject to the sexual misconduct of George Tyndall, the former and sole gynecologist at USC for nearly three decades. However, the settlement has not brought much closure for those who are involved, regardless of their involvement in the class action.
George Tyndall, who faces a potential 64-year sentence, has not admitted to any wrongdoing or liability. With hundreds of women accusing him of sexual abuse, Tyndall has continuously denied the allegations even after the Los Angeles Police Department charged him with 18 counts of sexual penetration and 11 counts of sexual battery. The settlement case may potentially work in Tyndall’s favour during the upcoming trial without any admission of guilt.
Moreover, statements issued by the school have failed to provide a sincere and meaningful apology. Rick J. Caruso, representing the USC Board of Trustees, stated that the end of the settlement marked “the end of a painful and ugly chapter in the history of our university.” However, the settlement may be an end for the school, but not for the victims. There is still a long journey ahead for them in the criminal proceedings.
Still, the worst part of the settlement was making the victims revisit their trauma in order to qualify for “higher-tier” compensations. According to the USC settlement instructions, all former patients of George Tyndall would automatically be included and compensated with $2,500 unless they opted out or filed for a higher-tier claim. To qualify for tier-2 (with maximum compensation set at $25,000) and tier-3 ($250,000), claimants must undergo interviews and psychiatric evaluations and would receive monetary compensations accordingly. Considering that neither George Tyndall nor school management had been required to undergo the same procedure, it is easy to see how the claimants are essentially being discouraged from actively participating in the case. Revisiting trauma under the risk of not being seen as “damaged enough” to receive a high-tier compensation can certainly be very discouraging or even humiliating.
As one of the 18,000 identified class action members, I was fortunate to have suffered very little and have minimum involvement in the case. It was indeed a weirdly bad experience, but receiving the class action notice and reading the news online made me feel more distant than involved. Another irony in the case was that I was not notified for any of the ongoing actions except for the initial notice. I did not even realize that a separate settlement case was in process until my partner randomly saw it in the international news section.
For me, this settlement seemed less like an attempt to make amends but more like one to silence others. If the school truly cared about the wellbeing of the claimants, they should at least actively update the process instead of brushing the scandal under the rug by making minimum contact. I would have honestly preferred to read the news in an email sent by the school rather than being surprised by news updates. This is a repeated trick that resourceful institutions have deployed to “move on” from scandals and lawsuits. In reality, it is all about risk control.
There is no doubt that monetary compensation is necessary and essential, but without sincere apologies and admissions of liability, this settlement may become yet another barrier for the victims in their journey to find closure. In my opinion, the institutions that are protected by these large settlements must be regulated and properly penalized to realize that their “commitment to change” should be more than just mere words.
A background of the USC George Tyndall sex misconduct scandal:
George Tyndall was the sole full-time gynecologist in the USC Health Center for the majority of the time he worked at the University from 1989 to 2016. On May 16, 2018, a Los Angeles Times article revealed allegations of his medical malpractice and sexual misconduct, which dated back to as early as 1991. Evidence including videotapes, photos, as well as chaperons’ witness statements have been provided, revealing the astonishing scope of the scandal with hundreds bringing forward claims. A criminal investigation led by the Los Angeles Police Department is still underway. If charged, Tyndall is facing up to 64 years in jail for sexual abuse and harassment, racial harassment, discrimination, and medical malpractice. The initial class action was approved in early 2020 for $215 million, providing a flat-rate compensation for all tier-1 members at $2,500, with the maximum compensation capped at $250,000 for tier-3 members. Those who opted out the initial class action, a group of 710 women, later reached the 2021 $852 million settlement with USC, which is the largest sexual abuse settlement against any university. This brings the total value of the settlements to over $1 billion.