Lawsuits in Northwestern University hazing scandal consolidated

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Several lawsuits related to Northwestern University's football program hazing scandal will be temporarily consolidated, a Cook County judge ruled this week.

The ruling pertains to seven lawsuits filed last year on behalf of former football players who allege hazing, racial discrimination, sexual assault and harassment during their time in the program.

Those lawsuits will be consolidated with a lawsuit filed by former head coach Pat Fitzgerald, who was fired about 10 days after news of the hazing scandal broke in July 2023. Fitzgerald, who denies wrongdoing in the scandal, alleges in his lawsuit that he was wrongly fired.

The cases were consolidated for pretrial purposes to avoid duplication of filings.

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"Before the court are various parties whose discrete controversies emanate from a common nucleus of operative fact: a combination of ritualistic abuse of young athletes who errantly assumed that the athletic department of an elite institution like Northwestern University was a safe place," wrote lawyers from the law firm Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard, who represent the seven former players.

Lawyers representing the seven players said they anticipate filing a motion to request a consolidated trial during which a jury would hear the former players' cases along with Fitzgerald's.

The April 2025 trial date previously set in Fitzgerald's case also was postponed this week.

The next hearing in the cases is scheduled for May 9.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire - Copyright Chicago Sun-Times 2024.)