Joe Paterno, The Penn State Scandal and a Potential Roadblock to Massive Lawsuits
We all know how this works. There is a horrific scandal involving PSU and defensiveless children, the school lied, covered it up and then fired its long term coach, Joe Paterno. So the ink on the avalanche of lawsuits against Penn State should be pretty close to dry right now, right? Penn State is going to pay countless millions, right?
Well, maybe not. None of the pundits are talking about it (because they haven't played it forward) but the State of Pennsylvania has a monetary cap of $250,000 of claims against the state and its agencies. As part of the its torts claim act ("TCA"), If a public entity is deemed to be a "agency of the commonwealth" then this limit of liability will apply.
My review of the TCA shows unsettled law of whether of Penn State will be able to gain this protection. But you can rest assured that Penn State's lawyers are going to seek all of the protections that may be available under the TCA.
Also keep in mind that there could be significant statute of limitations problems for some of the victims from more than a decade ago. Either way, the point is to keep in mind that if the TCA applies, then the potential verdicts against Penn State will be greatly reduced.
My name is Christopher Fusco. I am the managing partner of Callahan & Fusco, LLC with offices in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.