Many Larry Nassar survivors have until September 10 to file civil lawsuits
Many of the more than 330 people who have accused 55-year-old disgraced former USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University physician Larry Nassar of sexual assault have until Monday, September 10 to file civil lawsuits.
Nassar has been accused of sexually assaulting these individuals under the guise of medical treatment for more than two decades. He was arrested in December of 2016.
A new law was passed as a result of the Nassar scandal, and this law allows previously time-barred civil lawsuits to be filed. Until this law was passed, civil lawsuits could only be filed by sexual assault victims for up to three years victims after they were sexually assaulted.
As a result of this new law, which took effect on Tuesday, June 12, those who were minors when they were sexually assaulted by Nassar were given a retroactive right to sue for the acts of sexual assault committed against them by Nassar dating back to 1997.
However, this law also made clear that these older lawsuits must be filed within 90 days of the law taking effect, which is why the deadline is now under one month away.
Only the people who were sexually assaulted by Nassar after Sunday, June 12, 2016 are not subject to this Monday, September 10 deadline.
Here is what Megan Bonanni, an attorney and partner with the Royal Oak, Michigan-based law firm Pitt McGehee Palmer & Rivers, had to say about this deadline, according to MLive.
"For the women who were assaulted when they were minors many years ago, these news laws open the statute of limitations for them. And so that's where the deadline is 90 days, ending Sept. 10. For us and for the women that we represent, it was just so critically important that we reach out to women who may not understand this deadline."
Nassar is currently in prison, and he is set to be in prison for the rest of his life as a result of the fact that he was issued three lengthy prison sentences following his arrest in December of 2016.
This past December, Nassar was sentenced to 60 years in federal prison on three child pornography charges. This prison sentence is the sentence that he is currently serving, and he is doing so at United States Penitentiary, Tucson, a maximum-security federal prison in Tucson, Arizona that offers a sex offender program for sexual predators such as he.
In January, Nassar was issued the first of his two state prison sentences and the second of his three prison sentences in Ingham County, Michigan. He was sentenced to between 40 and 175 years in state prison on seven sexual assault charges.
Then in February, Nassar was issued the second of his two state prison sentences and the third of his three prison sentences in Eaton County, Michigan. He was sentenced to between an additional 40 and 125 years in state prison on three more sexual assault charges.
In June, Nassar was charged with six counts of second-degree sexual assault of a child in Texas stemming from the Károlyi Ranch investigation, but he was not given any additional prison time as a result of these charges.