COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Twenty-nine more men are suing Ohio State University over its failure to stop sexual abuse decades ago by team doctor Richard Strauss, who died in 2005.
One plaintiff in the federal lawsuit filed Monday alleges Strauss abused him during more than 10 medical exams in the 1980s, starting when he was a 16-year-old high school wrestler whose team competed on the Ohio State campus. He said he was also later abused by Strauss during required medical exams while playing football and wrestling for OSU.
A different wrestler in the lawsuit alleges Strauss fondled him during more than 50 medical visits.
More than 400 alumni have raised similar allegations in lawsuits against the university, alleging abuse throughout the doctor’s two decades at OSU. A law firm investigation conducted for Ohio State concluded employees were aware of concerns about Strauss as early as 1979 but didn’t stop him.
OSU has apologized publicly to anyone Strauss harmed. It has reached nearly $47 million in settlements for 185 plaintiffs, and announced an individual settlement program that could help resolve more claims from five of the remaining lawsuits. That program isn’t open to plaintiffs in the lawsuits filed more recently.
No one has publicly defended Strauss in the three years since the allegations started to become public.
The newest plaintiffs also include former athletes in baseball, lacrosse, cheerleading, soccer, football, basketball, gymnastics and fencing, and and patients treated at the student health center, where Strauss also worked before his retirement from Ohio State. Most of them are listed anonymously in the new complaint.
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