News

Actions

$249K settlement reached between ODU and woman who filed lawsuit over sex assault response

Posted at 1:31 PM, Mar 05, 2018
and last updated 2018-03-05 13:31:34-05

NORFOLK, Va. – A woman filed a lawsuit against Old Dominion University for their handling of her sexual assault report.

The incident was reported in October, 2016 and a lawsuit followed in January, 2017.

The complaint detailed the circumstances surrounding a violent rape and stated there were not any school personnel in the residence hall when the assault took place.

The victim contacted a local rape crisis center where a counselor made an appointment for her to have a forensic examination at a hospital and encouraged her to call police.

According to the court document, the victim was held at the police department for about eight hours where she was interrogated while detectives expressed “open skepticism” about her allegations of being sexually assaulted despite having collected physical evidence from her room that corroborated her report.

ODU announced Monday that the parties reached a mutually agreeable compromise to avoid expenses and uncertainties of trial.

The settlement reached was for $249,000.

The agreement includes no admission of wrongdoing by either party, ODU said.

Related: 

Complaint: Student was interrogated by ODU campus police for 8 hours after reporting rape