Penn State = Multiple civil lawsuits = Bankruptcy

[alling]

They will be lucky to get off that easy

[Emily_Haines]

oh yah, another psu thread

[ACoochy]

My original comment was in direct response to the poster who had posted right before that comment since he was alluding to the same things. Mstone then replies that they're not being brought up because the thread is not about them. I beg to differ. I'm simply pointing out that within all the posts about this PSU scandal through how many ever threads were created, the focus is almost entirely on Paterno and rarely, if ever, on the other parties involved. I'm saying that after reading and partaking in the majority of the discussions here. So explain to me how my premise and conclusion have such a disconnect that you would call my logic non sequitur. Or am I once again misinformed, relative to the meaning of "yet another logical non sequitur"

Id imagine this will drag out for years to come. This school will further muddy itself if it doesnt make alot of settlements real quick so that people will move on to the next thing...

[BiffTFinancial]

Penn State/Commonwealth of PA have sovereign immunity, same thing that Texas Tech used to get out of its breach of contract suit with Mike Leach. not saying that i agree with it, just stating facts as i understand them. Second Mile charity, however, might as well start drawing up the bankruptcy filing now.

back to PSU/Commonwealth of PA, wouldn't be surprised to see some sort of victims fund set up to process and handle settlements and make this go away. sovereign immunity will protect them legally, but they'll still look like shit to the public which is hardly what they want.

[Bluehorseshoe]

More like... Joe Paterno = Multiple civil lawsuits = Bankruptcy

[tony_come]

I will file a claim

[neverstoppers23]

More like... Joe Paterno = Multiple civil lawsuits = Bankruptcy

there not going to go after joe pa they are going to go after psu.

[InTheDrink]

there not going to go after joe pa they are going to go after psu.

You must not know much about lawyers. They're going to go after EVERYONE.

[jarvol]

Sovreign immunity can be rescinded.

[Bluehorseshoe]

there not going to go after joe pa they are going to go after psu.

They are definitely going after him. It's a no brainer.

[MichaelWaters]

I will file a claim

can you please stop. i just wanted freeplays. ill lose the deposit as quickly as i can i just wanted freeplay to work with

[blue chip]

Pervert State University won't be able to afford fielding a team after the financial beatdown occurs.

[Sportsbetting123]

Has a state college ever gone bankrupt?

[InTheDrink]

Has a state college ever gone bankrupt?

Not sure but then again just the other day the entire county that Birmingham lies in filed for bankruptcy so anything is possible.

[texhooper]

Not sure but then again just the other day the entire county that Birmingham lies in filed for bankruptcy so anything is possible.

birmingham is a shithole that just recently got over slavery, and state college doesn't quite have that problem.

[MichaelWaters]

Not sure but then again just the other day the entire county that Birmingham lies in filed for bankruptcy so anything is possible.

some black ppl in power there stole billions in a scam

[Smoke_O]

There wont be multiple civil lawsuits, there will be 1 big class action suit. The type of coverage this thing has gotten. I can imagine high powered law firms fighting to get in contact with the victims families as we speak. Sandusky, Second Mile and PSU as co-defendants are going to be hit hard by this. Ofcourse this class action will probably take place after the criminal case in a few years. So PSU is in a race against time to try to find these families and settle NOW. This is going to be huge and easily a $100 million dollar suit. PSU has no way of getting out as a co-defendant neither. Their facilities where used for the crimes and Sandusky still held office in the football building.

[jarvol]

Paterno has already lawyered up with a criminal defense attorney in D.C......though he hasn't been criminally charged with anything.

[UNCGQ]

Approx 1.5 Billion endowment.

That's real money.

[therookie300]

Paterno is smart for lawyering up.

They won't go after Joe. They will go after the university, that's where the money is. Everyone gravitates towards the money.

[Love The Action]

Penn State/Commonwealth of PA have sovereign immunity, same thing that Texas Tech used to get out of its breach of contract suit with Mike Leach. not saying that i agree with it, just stating facts as i understand them. Second Mile charity, however, might as well start drawing up the bankruptcy filing now.

back to PSU/Commonwealth of PA, wouldn't be surprised to see some sort of victims fund set up to process and handle settlements and make this go away. sovereign immunity will protect them legally, but they'll still look like shit to the public which is hardly what they want.

Not necessarily.

Temple University, for example, is also a public university and is also part of Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth System of Higher Education, but the Commonwealth Court held that Temple was not immune from tort lawsuits because it remains independent in its operation and is not classified by statute as an “agency” or as exercising “public powers.”

Therefore, if Temple faced tort liability, it seems case law in that jurisdiction would preclude PSU from going the sovereign immunity route.

Moreover, if the Penn State coaches and administrators try to go down the sovereign immunity route by claiming they’re state employees and thus immune from state tort claims like negligence, winning that argument — i.e., the argument that they are state actors — can expose them to liability for federal civil rights claims. Civil rights claims are harder to prove at trial than negligence claims but, on these facts, Penn State is going to have a hard time arguing they and their employees were not “deliberately indifference” to the rights of those children. They knew. They did nothing.

Make no mistake. Penn State and Paterno are in serious legal trouble here. Why do you think that Paterno just hired one of the most prominent defense attorneys on the east coast.

They are toast and I can't wait to see the fry.

[Dirty Sanchez]

More like... Joe Paterno = Multiple civil lawsuits = Bankruptcy

As much as I hate to say this....Joe Pa looks as frail as all hell...and as long as a civil/criminal suit could take in this case....he may never see the end of it

[Bluehorseshoe]

Paterno is smart for lawyering up.

They won't go after Joe. They will go after the university, that's where the money is. Everyone gravitates towards the money.

http://abovethelaw.com/2011/11/joe-paterno-better-lawyer-up/

[Ernie Mccracken]

PSU has FU money. I'll never understand why the rich give millions to already filthy rich universities.

Pay each victim $2M-$3M and it goes away. They probably spent that much on golden diapers for Joe Pa, so we're talking about drops in a bucket.

[sunzal]

They'll end up paying...still have liability...sovereignty won't get them out of this....but bankruptcy? They have insurance for this stuff....and unlike what most tort bashing republicans think, the final amt will be reasonable....this is a billion dollar school, even without insurance 50 mil is nothing...not sure if pennsylvania has punitive caps, but if they do it won't be much at all...they should have to pay enough to make sure it never happens again

[mtneer1212]

Penn State/Commonwealth of PA have sovereign immunity, same thing that Texas Tech used to get out of its breach of contract suit with Mike Leach. not saying that i agree with it, just stating facts as i understand them. Second Mile charity, however, might as well start drawing up the bankruptcy filing now.

back to PSU/Commonwealth of PA, wouldn't be surprised to see some sort of victims fund set up to process and handle settlements and make this go away. sovereign immunity will protect them legally, but they'll still look like shit to the public which is hardly what they want.

Penn State is not a state school; it is a private land-grant university. Its employees are not state employees. Thus the sovereign immunity defense does not apply here. This will cost the university at least 500 million dollars.

[Walter Abrams]

PSU has FU money. I'll never understand why the rich give millions to already filthy rich universities.

Pay each victim $2M-$3M and it goes away. They probably spent that much on golden diapers for Joe Pa, so we're talking about drops in a bucket.

Its the same as corporate welfare. This is what republicans do.

[UNCGQ]

Penn State is not a state school; it is a private land-grant university.

WHAT?

"The Pennsylvania State University, commonly referred to as Penn State or PSU, is a public research university with campuses and facilities throughout the state of Pennsylvania, United States. "

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_State_University

I think folks from WV look bad enough just on general principle, much less without spouting out blatantly incorrect information.

[BiffTFinancial]

Not necessarily. Temple University, for example, is also a public university and is also part of Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth System of Higher Education, but the Commonwealth Court held that Temple was not immune from tort lawsuits because it remains independent in its operation and is not classified by statute as an “agency” or as exercising “public powers.” Therefore, if Temple faced tort liability, it seems case law in that jurisdiction would preclude PSU from going the sovereign immunity route. Moreover, if the Penn State coaches and administrators try to go down the sovereign immunity route by claiming they’re state employees and thus immune from state tort claims like negligence, winning that argument — i.e., the argument that they are state actors — can expose them to liability for federal civil rights claims. Civil rights claims are harder to prove at trial than negligence claims but, on these facts, Penn State is going to have a hard time arguing they and their employees were not “deliberately indifference” to the rights of those children. They knew. They did nothing. Make no mistake. Penn State and Paterno are in serious legal trouble here. Why do you think that Paterno just hired one of the most prominent defense attorneys on the east coast. They are toast and I can't wait to see the fry.

oh, don't get me wrong, LTA - i'm not saying that they should not be liable, and nor that sovereign immunity definitely will protect them. they almost certainly will use sovereign immunity as a defense and a court will determine whether or not they should prevail. i couldn't believe it when Texas Tech was successfully able to use sovereign immunity against Leach. i don't think that sovereign immunity should protect PSU here just as i don't think that it should've protected TT against Leach (though to be fair, we're talking different circuits and thus different caselaw on the subject, which you astutely point out with Temple, and sovereign immunity law in Texas is considered more expansive in most jurisdictions).

i will acknowledge that i didn't know about the Temple case, and that i'm out of my element (i'm much more suited to drafting the employment agreement for the next coach), and your analysis of it makes it sound as if it would applicable here, so thanks for posting it and educating me. if your analysis of caselaw is as good as your analysis of sporting events, PSU is fkd (and rightly so). agree that they are in serious legal trouble. sovereign immunity might become irrelevant in a practical sense, in that they won't want to be viewed as turning their backs on the victims again through what the public would consider a "legal technicality." a victims' fund and settlements are the right things to do anyway, trials would continue the damage to PSU and its reputation for years.

[BGS 9.5]

burial in progress

[BiffTFinancial]

don't kill the messenger:

http://www.wolfbaldwin.com/attorneys_lawyers/articles.asp?ArticleID=38

i don't know anything about the firm that wrote this, but apparently they're willing to stake their reputation to this analysis. two notable items: (1) 6-month statute of limitations for claims with respect to Sovereign Immunity Act, and (2) this little nugget:

Finally, the Tort Claims Act provides that an official who commits willful misconduct cannot hide behind the shield of immunity: “in any action against a local agency or employee thereof for damages on account of an injury caused by the act of the employee in which it is judicially determined that the act of the employee caused the injury and that such act constituted a crime, actual fraud, actual malice or willful misconduct,” the defenses do not apply.

Sandusky stopped being an employee in what, 1999? as to Paterno and the others, plaintiffs have to prove causation. however, Sandusky was technically still a "volunteer" at points after that, which might make him de facto employee even if not paid. also, could argue that his emeritus status was still enough for respondeat superior under apparent agency grounds.

again, no one misinterpret this as my support for that outcome.

this is hands down the most interested that i've even been in a legal issue while at work.

[Bluehorseshoe]

He's screwed..

By Michael Isikoff
NBC News National Investigative Correspondent

Joe Paterno has reached out to a prominent Washington criminal defense lawyer to represent him in the Penn State sex abuse case, a source close to the case told NBC News.

J. Sedgwick Sollers, who once represented President George H.W. Bush in the Iran-Contra affair, was contacted by Paterno's advisers on Thursday. But Sollers has not yet met with Paterno, and a formal retainer agreement has not been signed.

The longtime Penn State football coach was fired Wednesday night after disclosures in a grand jury report that one of his assistants informed him in 2002 about an alleged incident of sexual abuse by former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky.

Paterno has not been charged with any crimes in the case. He has been described as a cooperating witness in the case. Two other university officials told by Paterno about the alleged incident were charged this week with failing to report Sandusky's conduct to legal authorities and perjury.

Sollers declined to comment Thursday night. He is the managing partner in the Washington office of King & Spalding, a major Atlanta-based law firm. A spokesman for Paterno said in an email that "no lawyer has been retained."

A source close to Paterno said that in addition to the investigations by the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office, the former coach is concerned about the likelihood of civil lawsuits by Sandusky's alleged victims and their families.

[Bluehorseshoe]

If Paterno's lawyers take this angle, God help JoePa....

Joe Paterno may face civil lawsuits as a result of the Penn State sexual abuse scandal, and if that happens, one attorney said Paterno's legal representatives and other defendants could try to use what the attorney considers a flaw in Pennsylvania state law that limits the rights of victims.

Plaintiffs currently over the age of 20 can pursue lawsuits only in cases of sexual abuse that involved "forcible compulsion." That definition includes rape, but not always lesser forms of physical contact, said Shanin Specter, a litigator in Philadelphia whose firm has been contacted by the family of one of the alleged victims.

That loophole could present a challenge for some of the potential plaintiffs, Specter said. Legal teams for Paterno and any other defendants could argue that the boys had the choice of being touched inappropriately by former Nittany Lions assistant Jerry Sandusky.

[wtf]

look at this fat bitch

joe p son, crying like a little whore who just got stiffed cause daddy is not at
a football game

[stevenash]

They will be lucky to get off that easy

Bankrupt



You think Penn State will go belly up over this ?

Penn State is a top 20 business university
Penn State is a top 20 engineering university
Penn State is a top 10 aerospace university.

Penn State is not going belly up.
Advanced high school kids will continue to go to Penn State if they want a career in engineering, or business.
A Penn State degree carries major clout on a resume.

Penn State will continue to attract the best HS students and their tuition money.


You really think students will not go to Penn State over a football scandal?

Lots of ignorant posts in this thread, some smart ones, but to suggest PSU will go belly up over this scandal is to put it nicely an over reaction.