Two new lawsuits were filed in federal court in Grand Rapids Monday against former MSU employee Larry Nassar.
A total of 17 women are suing Nassar, MSU, the Board of Trustees, USA Gymnastics and gymnastics club Twistars USA in the two suits. Their ages at the time of alleged assaults in the lawsuit with multiple plaintiffs range from 10 to 34 years old.
MSU gymnast Lindsey Lemke is named as a plaintiff in one of the suits. Lemke alleges that former MSU gymnastics coach Kathie Klages told her that her personal cell phone would be subject to checks to ensure Lemke was not speaking with the media or law enforcement.
Klages allegedly told Lemke’s mother that child pornography might have been planted on Nassar’s computer to frame him.
Jane AAA Doe, who is a single plaintiff on one of the two lawsuits, filed a complaint against Nassar with MSU’s Office for Inclusion and Intercultural Activities in 2014.
She alleges that Nassar asked another doctor who was present at her appointment to leave, then touched her breasts and vaginal area even after she told him to stop.
She then met with director of Sports Medicine Jeffrey Kovan to discuss the appointment, and Kovan reported the incident to MSU’s Office for Inclusion and Intercultural Activities
Kovan is named as a defendant in Denhollander et al v. Michigan State University et al.
The Office for Inclusion conducted an investigation and found that Nassar’s conduct was “not of a sexual nature,” though he was given new protocols which required him to minimize skin-to-skin contact, and for a chaperone to be present.
The lawsuit alleges that Nassar failed to comply with these protocols, and MSU failed to ensure that he complied.
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