The University of Southern California (USC) and Dr. George Tyndall have agreed to pay $842,400,000.00 in order to resolve sexual abuse allegations by hundreds of student-patients at USC’s Student Health Center. USC previously agreed to pay thousands of other alumnae and students $215 million in a 2018 federal class-action settlement.

This most recent settlement brings USC and Tyndall’s total settlement to $1.1 billion. This is the largest sexual abuse payout in higher education history.  D. Miller & Associates, PLLC™ represents 100 plaintiffs in this litigation.

We took on USC  and George Tyndall

  1. Miller & Associates, PLLC™’s clients comprise 100 former student-patients who filed suit in Jane Doe 5, et al. v. Dr. George Tyndall, University of Southern California, and Does 1-500, Lead Case No. BC70567.

In their lawsuit, the plaintiffs alleged that Tyndall sexually abused and molested them. They also claimed that the former physician:

  • Conducted unnecessary or inappropriate pelvic and breast exams
  • Observed patients undress for pelvic exams
  • Performed pelvic exams without medical gloves
  • Required patients to remove all clothing without medical necessity
  • Made sexual innuendos about patients’ bodies, sexual activity, and ethnicity
  • Photographed patients’ genitals and breasts
  • Ignored protocols for female student-patients to have a nurse or qualified medical chaperone present during examinations

Tyndall was a campus gynecologist at USC for approximately 30 years. He is currently awaiting a criminal trial in Los Angeles related to these events.

USC showed institutional neglect by failing to protect a generation of female students

While Tyndall is accused of serial sexual abuse, his former employer, USC, is also to blame, according to Andy Rubenstein, Head of Litigation at D. Miller & Associates, PLLC™.

The lawsuit accused USC of systematically ignoring and covering up complaints against Tyndall, who USC employed from 1989 to 2016.

“The USC cover-up of Dr. Tyndall’s abuses is just another example of how colleges and universities protect predators, not students,” Rubenstein said. “There was a generational arc of institutional neglect by USC.”

How the USC sex abuse case unfolded

Despite mounting allegations against Tyndall, USC failed to investigate claims of sexual abuse. Some of these claims began in the earliest years of the doctor’s tenure at USC.

Medical chaperones were allegedly alarmed by Tyndall’s photographing the genitals of his young patients and his propensity for conducting pelvic exams without gloves.

When USC finally dismissed Tyndall in 2016, they still did not contact law enforcement or professional medical boards with their knowledge of the alleged sexual abuse.

Historic $842.4 million settlement shows USC’s “failure”

The plaintiffs in the USC sex abuse case ranged in age from 17 to 29. Many of these women had never had a pelvic exam before visiting the USC Student Health Center, where Tyndall was the only full-time gynecologist.

Darren Miller, founder and Senior Attorney of D. Miller & Associates, PLLC™, stated that the historic $842.4 million settlement for the firm’s 100 clients showed the university’s lack of accountability. “Institutions don’t pay this kind of money unless they did something wrong,” Miller said.

“The failure of USC to act and thoroughly investigate the allegations against Dr. Tyndall has left many women distrustful of healthcare professionals and has allowed a sexual predator to go unchecked for decades,” Miller said.

We applaud the courage of our clients to come forward and seek justice

  1. Miller & Associates, PLLC™’s entire legal team is honored and proud to represent our 100 courageous clients who spoke truth to power in order to hold USC and Tyndall accountable. While this $842.4 million settlement is a legal victory, decades of sexual abuse could have been avoided had USC simply done the right thing.

If you are the victim of collegiate sexual assault, we can help

USC will pay $1.1 billion in this sexual abuse settlement. Unfortunately, this is an epidemic that has arisen at too many colleges and universities, and it needs to be corrected. If you or someone you love was sexually abused, call D. Miller & Associates, PLLC™ at (713) 850-8600 for a free case evaluation.