By Joe Palazzolo
- Getty Images
- Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, leaves court in handcuffs after being convicted in his child sex abuse trial.
At 9 a.m., former FBI director Louis Freeh will issue his findings on Penn State University’s handling of reports that onetime football coach Jerry Sandusky sexually abused boys. (The report will be published on this website.)
Lawyers for the victims of Mr. Sandusky, who was convicted in June of 45 counts related to child sex abuse of 10 boys over 15 years, are eager to put its contents to work.
Philadelphia plaintiffs attorney Thomas R. Kline, who represents a man identified as Victim 5, told the Legal Intelligencer the Freeh report was kin to a “resource manual and guidebook” for settlement discussions and a “roadmap” for litigation.
Victim 1?s attorney, Slade McLaughlin, told the newspaper that if the report turned up no smoking gun, next step is a settlement or sweeping discovery.
Added Mr. Kline, “The alternative is to let me, Tom Kline, and the rest of the victims’ lawyers root around in Penn State’s files and depose a hundred of their employees to uncover all of the dirty laundry that has, to date, been kept from public view.”
These are sharp words. But are they necessary?
Following Mr. Sandusky’s conviction, the university invited victims to discuss their claims. Penn State, which has operating revenue of $ 4.6 billion with an endowment of more than $ 1.8 billion, has said it intends to ”privately, expeditiously and fairly” compensate Mr. Sandusky’s victims.
What’s fair? That, of course, will depend on the university’s level of culpability.