Miltenberg: “Michigan State Pays $1.2M to Settle Complaint,” ESPN

7.11.19

Michigan State University paid a combined $1.2 million to a woman and a former football player who were embroiled in a Title IX investigation and subsequent lawsuits if they both agreed to “set aside” the findings of an investigation that found the football player responsible for violating the school’s sexual misconduct policy. The former female student, listed as “Jane Doe” in settlement documents obtained Tuesday by Outside the Lines as part of a public records request, received $475,000 from the university. The football player, Keith Mumphery, received $725,000. …  In a phone call with Outside the Lines on Tuesday, Mumphery’s attorneys, Andrew Miltenberg and Stuart Bernstein, declined to answer several questions, including those about MSU’s handling of the case, citing the confidentiality provision of the agreement. They said Mumphery was “satisfied with the resolution of this case” and was “now just looking forward to the future.” …  The case was not made public until a May 31, 2017, Detroit Free Press article detailed the woman’s sexual assault allegation and MSU’s finding against Mumphery. The Texans cut him from their roster within days, and he has not been signed by an NFL team. In his lawsuit, Mumphery alleged that the publicity surrounding his case cost him his NFL career. As a result of the settlement, Mumphery would likely not be a part of a separate lawsuit Miltenberg and Bernstein are pursuing against MSU, in which a male student says he was wrongly accused of sexual assault and suspended from the school. On July 5, the lawyers filed to attain class-action status to represent more than 50 male students who state they were wrongly found in violation of sexual misconduct policies and disciplined, with the goal of overturning those findings as well. “Almost everyone who comes to us in this situation who feels they’ve been defamed, their first question is ‘how to get my name back,'” Miltenberg said. “I don’t think that story is over yet for Keith.”

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