Penn State lawyers have submitted a “series of offers” in regard to the settlement talks with those who say they were sexually abused by former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, attorney Kenneth Feinberg said.
Feinberg, of Feinberg Rozen LLP, represents the university in the talks and said he formally submitted 25 different demands on Friday. Feinberg said he had received the offers over the last few weeks from the lawyers representing the claimants.
There are about 28 total claimants in settlement talks represented by about a dozen lawyers, Feinberg said.
The few claimants who have yet to make demands are the result of a longer discussion process, or discussions that have not moved forward as quickly as the others, Feinberg said. Feinberg said he is close to receiving demands from those that have yet to submit them.
While all 25 demands were submitted at one time, each of them received individual attention, Feinberg said.
“We submitted them all together as a block so that they could look at them as a block,” Feinberg said. “This is an aggregate demand made up of 25 or so individual demands.”
The next step in the process is for the university to accept the demands, reject the demands, offer something different or ask for more information, Feinberg said.
Michael Boni, attorney for Aaron Fisher, the person referred to as “Victim 1” in the Sandusky case, said that his demands were included in the block of demands that Feinberg sent the university on Friday.
He said that he expects to hear back “very shortly” regarding how the university responded to their claims.
Boni said he has been discussing number amounts for their settlement for a while and this is just another step in the process in working toward an agreement.
“We’re cautiously optimistic that the settlement talks are moving in the right direction,” Boni said.
One of the few claimants who have not yet made demands is the man represented by Mitchell Garabedian. Garabedian represents a man who said Sandusky molested him in 1988 when he was 16 years old. The man did not testify during Sandusky’s criminal trial in June.
Garabedian said he has still yet to have more than one introductory meeting with Feinberg but will continue talks with the group within the next month.
Garabedian said that Feinberg recently sent him a request for further information regarding his client, and Garabedian is now sending the further information in an attempt to initiate further discussions.
Penn State Spokesman David La Torre said via email that he could not confirm the current state of the settlement talks and redirected comments to Feinberg.
Boni said he could not reveal the dollar amount associated with his demands.
