News & Events

Nov 30, 2011: New accuser files lawsuit against Jerry Sandusky

Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky sexually abused a young boy more than 100 times after meeting him through the charity he founded, then threatened the boy’s family to keep him quiet about the encounters, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday.The lawsuit identifies the plaintiff, an adult, only as John Doe. It claims Sandusky abused the boy at the coach’s State College home, at Penn State facilities and on at least one bowl game trip. The man who filed the lawsuit says he feels tormented after learning others were allegedly abused after him.  …

Nov 18, 2011: Jerry Sandusky’s Comments Add Insult for Alleged Victims in Penn State Case

Two days after Jerry Sandusky was arrested and charged with 40 counts of sexual abuse of minors earlier this month, Pennsylvania attorney general Linda Kelly held a press conference to discuss the ongoing investigation, and at one point urged other victims to come forward to assist with the probe.Thursday night on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360,” a lawyer representing alleged victims of Sandusky not mentioned in the 23-page grand jury presentment said the disgraced former Penn State defensive coordinator used his “position of trust and power, and his caring ways as a coach and mentor to groom fami…

Nov 17, 2011: Conflicting stories on Mike McQueary’s actions

There may be many more victims in the Penn Sate sex abuse scandal. Former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky is charged with attacking eight boys over 15 years.CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian has learned Sandusky may have abused more than 18 boys. An attorney representing several of the alleged victims say they told him abuse by Sandusky included rape and molestation. Minn. attorney Jeff Anderson has represented victims of childhood sexual abuse for nearly 30 years, including thousands of victims of pedophile Catholic priests.

Nov 16, 2011: Lawyer: Sandusky denials “salt in the wounds”

(CBS News)  Jerry Sandusky’s denials that he sexually abused young boys over the span of years are traumatizing his alleged victims all over again, an attorney representing some of the accusers said. “They’re really suffering despair, confusion and, really, fury because Sandusky and those around him remain free to speak and deny. And every time they do, speak and deny, they are really putting salt in the wounds, they are really putting a dagger in the heart, they are really wounding the soul even further and, in that way, we are really trying to work with these survivors to help them …

Nov 11, 2011: Minneapolis attorney says Penn State has to ‘step up’

For decades, Minneapolis attorney Jeff Anderson has represented alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse. This week, he says he’s seeing some of the same “institutional failures” at Penn State that he says have long plagued the Catholic Church. “We have learned whether it’s the Boy Scouts, Penn State, the Roman Catholic Church, the most trusted institutions everybody seems to give deference to the offenders,” Anderson said on Thursday. “The more powerful the institution, the more perilous it is to the children,” he added. Anderson believes Penn State leaders have their wo…

Nov 11, 2011: Ruben Rosario: Amid the Penn State outrage, victims have been forgotten

I have a few bones to pick about some of the reaction to the mushrooming Penn State University sex-abuse scandal. But first, a quick summary for the uninformed. According to a grand jury presentment, Mike McQueary, then a graduate assistant of the college football team and now an assistant coach, saw Jerry Sandusky, a longtime former assistant coach and PSU booster, sodomize a 10-year-old boy in a school shower in 2002. He informed legendary coach Joe Paterno, who acknowledged this week he was told that the incident involved fondling of a sexual nature. Paterno alerted Tim Curley, the athl…

Nov 10, 2011: Seeming parallels abound in Penn State, Catholic Church abuse scandals

Both are managed by male dominated-hierarchies. Both are revered by millions of people. And both allegedly dealt with accusations of sexual abuse of children internally, without going to law enforcement authorities.To many victims’ advocates, commentators and others, the parallels between this week’s allegations about how Penn State dealt with reports of sex abuse and decade-old revelations about sex abuse in the Roman Catholic Church are uncanny. “It is really a striking and almost identical factual pattern that has emerged in the Catholic Church cases and at Penn State,” says Jeff…

Nov 10, 2011: Penn State’s legal liability is serious, analysts say

In addition to severe reputational damage, Pennsylvania State University faces the prospect of huge financial exposure from lawsuits by sexual-abuse victims who can credibly charge the university had ample warning that its former assistant football coach preyed on children but did little or nothing to stop it, say trial lawyers who have been following the case. Particularly troubling for the university, at least from a legal liability standpoint, is that the broad parameters of a civil case already are being vividly laid out by state Attorney General Linda Kelly. She has charged athletic dir…

Nov 09, 2011: Remember the children

This is not about Joe Paterno.

If these boys really were molested, groped and raped by a middle-aged ex-Penn State football coach, then whatever misjudgment Paterno made will be a single lit match compared to the bonfire these boys will walk in for years to come.

Nov 08, 2011: Is Penn State the Catholic Church?

If, as many people believe, the institution that is the Catholic Church should be held legally responsible for the child sexual abuse crimes perpetrated by its priests and the subsequent cover up of the worldwide scandal by their superiors, then shouldn’t Penn State — not to mention football coach Joe Paterno and other top administrators — be held similarly accountable for the alleged crimes committed by longtime assistant coach Jerry Sandusky?

Nov 07, 2011: William Mitchell College of Law Honors Jeffrey R. Anderson ’75

William Mitchell College of Law recently honored Jeffrey R. Anderson ’75 and William M. Orth ’80 at the college’s Annual DeParcq Leadership Dinner. The dinner is held in honor of William H. DeParcq ‘30, prominent Minnesota personal injury lawyer who died in 1988, to recognize those who make a difference in the lives of our students, our law school, and our community.

Nov 07, 2011: A time to talk to children

Experts say it’s important for parents to talk openly, honestly and calmly to kids about cases like the Skip ReVille sexual molestation scandal, tailoring the information to the age and maturity of the child. For young children, it might be best to describe such situations in general terms, explaining that a bad person touched someone inappropriately in a private place. Older kids might prefer to read newspaper accounts or discuss the incidents in far greater detail. The main point is creating a safe place where children feel comfortable sharing information and feelings, knowing they won’t…