The Arizona Board of Regents cut their losses and agreed to an $850,000 settlement for a woman who was raped by a player on the Arizona State University football team.

The settlement agreement also provides for the appointment of a "student safety coordinator" responsible for "oversight and reform efforts in connection with the prevention of sexual harassment, violence against students, discrimination, gender, equity, and compliance with Title IX" at the three state universities.

A female student identified only as J.K. was assaulted in a campus dorm by Darnel Henderson. Going to trial would have been a huge risk for ASU -- particularly in light of evidence that school officials had allowed Henderson back on campus after he was thrown out of the school's summer program for harassing and intimidating other female students.

The settlement follows that of a similar case against the University of Colorado, which agreed in December 2007 to pay $2.85 million to two women who were gang-raped at a party for football recruits. J.K. attorney Baine P. Kerr (Hutchinson Black & Cook, Boulder, Colo.) also represented the plaintiffs in that case.

If the CU and ASU cases don't convince college athletics programs that the days of coddling predatory athletes are over, nothing will.

For an earlier On Point story on J.K. v. Arizona Bd. of Regents, click here.

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Attorneys Win $1.4M Fees Award in Taser Case

Plaintiffs' attorneys in a landmark wrongful-death suit against the maker of Taser stun guns have won a fees award of $1.4 million -- which is almost 10 times the net recovery of damages by the plaintiffs.

The case brought by the parents of Robert Heston was the first in which a jury has found Taser International (Nasdaq: TASR) liable in a personal injury suit. Heston died after Salinas, Calif., police repeatedly shocked him with Tasers, causing him to have a heart attack.

The "growing prevalence" of Tasers "as a law enforcement weapon makes the warnings given about their use an issue of significant societal importance," U.S. District Judge James E. Ware said in his order granting attorney fees. "Thus, the issue of whether Defendant TASER owes a duty to warn police about the risks of cardiac arrest under certain circumstances concerns an important right affecting the public interest."

A jury in June awarded a total of $6 million to Heston's parents, but Ware threw out the $5 million in punitive damages. Because Heston was found 85 percent liable for his death, that left the plaintiffs with a net recovery of $153,150 in compensatory damages.

Citing the case's "significant benefit to the public," Ware said it would not be in the interest of justice to limit the attorney fees to an amount based on the recovery.

For earlier On Point stories on Heston v. City of Salinas, click here and here.

On Point
2/6/09