UCLA gynecologist James Heaps appeared in Los Angeles Superior Court in 2019. The University of California has agreed to pay more than $100 million to settle allegations that hundreds of women were sexually abused by Heaps. .
Al Seib / AP
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Al Seib / AP
UCLA gynecologist James Heaps appeared in Los Angeles Superior Court in 2019. The University of California has agreed to pay more than $100 million to settle allegations that hundreds of women were sexually abused by Heaps. .
Al Seib / AP
LOS ANGELES – The University of California has agreed to pay more than $100 million to settle allegations that hundreds of women were sexually abused by a former UCLA gynecologist, attorneys announced.
The settlement was announced Monday by several attorneys representing 203 women, who say they have been scouted or abused by Dr. James Heaps during their 35-year career. Details have not been announced.
The lawsuit says the university ignored decades-old complaints and deliberately concealed abuse.
A notice seeking comment from UCLA Health was not immediately returned Monday.
The University of California, Los Angeles began investigating Heaps in 2017, and he retired the following year after the school refused to renew his contract. Heaps was also charged criminally last year with 21 sex-related offenses involving seven women. He has pleaded not guilty and denies wrongdoing.
The lawsuit is one of hundreds of lawsuits alleging abuse by Heaps. UCLA settled a similar lawsuit last year for $73 million.
In that case, more than 100 women said that between 1983 and 2018, Heaps groped women, simulated intercourse with an ultrasound transducer, or made inappropriate comments during an examination at the center. UCLA student health, the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, or his campus office.
Under the class action settlement, approximately 6,600 former patients will receive between $2,500 and $250,000, with higher amounts related to the level of physical injury and emotional distress as determined by a panel Experts.
UCLA did not admit wrongdoing when it reached that settlement but agreed to change its procedures to prevent, identify, investigate, and respond to sexual misconduct.
The latest lawsuit to be settled follows similarly large outlays by universities over allegations that doctors abused thousands of patients.
Last month, the University of Michigan announced a Settlement $490 million with more than 1,000 people saying they were sexually assaulted by a sports doctor, Dr. Robert Anderson, during his nearly four-decade career at the school.
He died in 2008.
Last March, UCLA’s cross-town rival, the University of Southern California, agreed to an $852 million settlement with more than 700 women who have accused the school’s longtime gynecologist, Dr. Tyndall, sexual abuse. The university achieved a $215 million settlement in a separate lawsuit.
Tyndall, who has worked at the school for nearly 30 years, has pleaded not guilty to dozens of counts of adultery.
USC settlements have far exceeded the levels announced in 2018 by Michigan State University. That $500 million deal – considered the largest of its kind at the time – addressed requests from more than 300 women and girls who said they were assaulted by Larry Nassar, a sports doctor on campus and a doctor for USA Gymnastics.
