A federal judge has approved a $73 million class-action sex abuse settlement resulting from litigation brought against the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) and a former gynecologist but a legal observer alleges the amount is unreasonable and low.
On July 12, U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner accepted an unopposed Motion for Final Approval of a Class Action Settlement, which creates a fund where awards are allocated based on 3 tiers of engagement in the claims process.
Klausner was appointed to the federal bench by former U.S. President George W. Bush.
“What I find unfair is forcing women who have lived for years with this sexual assault, which many of the sexual assault victims have a hard time coping with, to relive the abuse again,” said Attorney Mike Arias, a past president of both the Consumer Attorneys of California (CAOC) and Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles (CAALA). “If you're going to cause them to relive it and go through a process, that's basically, in my view, designed to protect the institution by limiting their exposure.”
UCLA will pay Plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees and litigation expenses separately from the $73 million settlement fund and plaintiffs’ counsel’s application for fees and expenses will not exceed $8,760,000 or an amount equal to 12% of the settlement fund, according to the proposal submitted by plaintiff’s attorney Daniel Girard.
“I don't think you should be forcing women to have to make decisions about a class action settlement like this when there hasn't been any discovery taken and where there hasn't been anything really done to determine the strength of the case,” said Mike Arias. "Typically, these kinds of decisions are made after litigation, not before it starts."
The lawsuit, A.B. et al v. The Regents of the University of California et al, was filed in Oct. 2020 in the Central District of California and alleges that some 6,000 women were examined by Dr. James Heaps from 1983 to 2018 experienced sexual abuse, battery, and emotional distress at the school’s student health center, Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, or at Heaps’ on-campus office, according to media reports.
“This is an institution-friendly settlement,” Arias said. “It allows UCLA to limit its exposure by getting every potential victim who doesn't really understand the notices they receive to agree to this settlement. It gets them all to sign off on it, to accept it, and be part of the class. Only UCLA benefits in my view.”
The settlement proposal states that under tier 1, every class member will be mailed a $2,500 check ten days after the settlement takes effect while a tier 2 award of $12,500 requires a written claims process.
“The option for several hundred women has been to opt-out and pursue litigation individually,” said Arias who is representing more than 30 women that are choosing to pursue a consolidated action currently pending in state court in downtown Los Angeles. Arias is the founding and managing partner of Arias Sanguinetti Wang & Torrijos LLP.
A tier 3 award ranges from $12,500 to $250,000 but requires a written claim and an interview.
However, there is no guarantee that women who select a tier 3 award will receive $250,000, according to Arias.
“It depends on how many women apply,” he said. “It isn’t unlimited.”