Attorneys for some of the men who sued Ohio State University over decades-old sexual abuse by a team doctor argued Tuesday that a federal appeals court should overturn a judge’s dismissal and let the lawsuits continue toward trial.
But a lawyer for the school contends their claims were made years too late. If the doctor’s behavior and Ohio State’s inaction during his tenure were as egregious as alleged, he argued, the students knew enough that, legally speaking, they should have started looking into further recourse back then.
Hundreds of alumni have alleged the late Dr. Richard Strauss abused them throughout his two decades at the school, and that Ohio State officials knew of complaints but failed to stop him. The university publicly apologized and said it has tried to respond with transparency and empathy while trying to resolve the cases through settlements, which so far total more than $60 million for 296 survivors.
A judge dismissed most of the unsettled cases, acknowledging that abuse occurred but agreeing with the school's argument that the legal time limit for the claims had long passed. Two groups totaling more than 100 survivors appealed that decision, contending the two-year window for that didn't start until the allegations were brought to light in 2018 when the men began to speak out and the school hired a law firm to investigate.