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A new lawsuit accusing former sports director George Pearls and the University of Michigan police of refusing to investigate a rape committed in 1992 by Larry Nassar is tainted with inconsistencies, raising issues for some and a defense of the complainant.
Several assertions made in the lawsuit are also contested by Merrily Dean Baker, who took over as MSU's sporting director while the events described by the plaintiff Erika Davis would have taken place.
"There seems to be something messed up in the timeline that makes no sense," said Baker, who said she had never heard of Davis' allegations before the filing the complaint Monday.
Among the problems with the lawsuit: It is said that Nassar was Davis's doctor in 1992 when the rape occurred. In fact, Nassar – a former UMS doctor who molested hundreds of patients – was still in medical school in 1992, and it is unclear in what context he could have treated Davis for a knee injury in 1992.
However, a legal expert said that it was "very common" to have errors and inconsistencies in a lawsuit filed just before the expiration of the statute of limitations.
"It happens all the time when a complainant goes to a lawyer at the last minute and the lawyer tries to meet a deadline," said Lauren Rousseau, a professor at Cooley Law School.
"But you have to come back and fix it," Roussau said of errors and inconsistencies, and these corrections are usually made by an amended complaint.
The Davis lawsuit was filed on Monday, September 10, the last day that Nassar victims assaulted between 1996 and June 2016 could file a claim under Michigan's statute of limitations.
Nassar-inspired legislation can not cover the 1992 rape case
Jordan K. Merson, the New York attorney who drafted the lawsuit, "does not take media questions at the moment," according to the woman who answered the phone in Merson's office in Manhattan.
The plaintiff, Erika Davis of California, and Martha Ludwig, a former MSU field hockey coach named in the lawsuit, were also not contacted for comment.
Michigan State University declined to answer questions beyond a statement released Tuesday.
According to the lawsuit, Davis, 17, in 1992, attended the MSU for a field hockey scholarship. After a knee injury during a spring training session, Ludwig sent Davis back to Nassar for treatment, according to the lawsuit.
Davis was sexually assaulted during her appointments with Nassar, according to the lawsuit, including in an incident where she claims to have been drugged and raped. She became pregnant as a result of the rape, according to the lawsuit, and the pregnancy ended in miscarriage.
The lawsuit also states that Davis spoke of his rape to his coach and Ludwig went to the sports department, where Pearls intervened to stop any investigation.
A lawsuit alleges that Nassar raped an MSU athlete in 1992; Beads covered him
Pearls, now a director of the MSU who did not respond to requests for comment, was at the time the head coach of MSU and the university sports director before Baker took over his duties in May 1992.
Davis also alleges that she went to the MSU Police Department several months later and that they also refused to investigate.
The lawsuit indicates that Davis lost his athletic scholarship after going to the police. It also suggests that Ludwig lost his job after battling Pearls.
Among the questions concerning the trial:
1. Nassar was not a doctor in 1992.
The lawsuit states that when Davis saw Nassar in 1992, "he was a renowned doctor in orthopedic sports medicine, highly respected in the gymnastics community and team doctor of the American gymnastics team".
In reality, Nassar was still a student at the MSU College of Osteopathy in 1992. He did not become a doctor until he graduated in 1993.
Nassar made himself known in the sports world in 1996, when he was team doctor for the US Olympic gymnastics team for the first time. He was hired by MSU in 1997 as a sports medicine doctor.
Before becoming a doctor, Nassar worked for years as a track and field coach and it is possible that he treated Davis as such. But we do not know if he was on the payroll of the MSU at that time.
2. Michigan State had a new athletic director when Pearls would intervene.
According to the trial, Davis told his trainer, Ludwig, the rape and Ludwig "faced" Nassar in May 2018.
"The coach then complained that the accused Nassar did to the plaintiff Erika to the current sports director of the defendant Michigan State University." George Perles, former sports director of the Michigan State Defendant University, intervened "
"It does not make sense," said Baker, who became MSU's first sports director on May 18, 1992.
She categorically denies hearing about Davis or his allegations before this week and said that Pearls would not have been able to intervene had he already left the AD position.
"I have never heard of this situation," she said. "It must have happened before I got there, there's no way I've forgotten that."
But if that happened while Pearl was still sports director, Baker said she was "confused" why Davis and / or Ludwig never came to see her.
"I have a hard time understanding why I did not hear anything about it from anyone" in the spring or summer of 1992, Baker said.
Baker, who now lives in Florida, said that she would certainly have taken action. "Rape is a crime," said Baker. "How can we hear these words and say," This is not my problem? "
In addition, she stated that Title IX required an investigation into a sexual assault reported by a student. Baker was an expert and a strong advocate of federal law.
"Anyone who did not report the situation was breaking the law," she said of Davis' allegations. "My approach was that if you even heard a rumor of sexual violence, you were investigating."
3. Baker, not Pearls, was the athletic director when Davis reported to the MSU police.
The trial: "In October 1992, the complainant Erika and her friends went to the University of Michigan Police Department and reported the rape and the police told them she had to report it to the sports department.
"The detective explicitly told them that he was powerless to investigate everything that was happening at the sports department and to go to the sports department," the lawsuit said. "The plaintiff Erika explained that the sports department had already dismissed him and the sergeant replied that George Pearls was a" mighty man "and that he should simply drop him."
In October 1992, Baker was the sporting director of MSU for five months and she stated that the MSU police should have or ought to have known that Baker would have fully supported Davis by filing a criminal complaint against Nassar.
It is unclear why the MSU police would refer to Pearl, then head coach of MSU football, about a rape case involving a field hockey player and MSU medical student.
Pearls "would have nothing to do with that" in October 1992, said Baker.
4. The lawsuit suggests that Ludwig, the MSU's field hockey coach, may have been fired after clashing with MSU officials over the alleged rape. But Ludwig stayed to lead another season.
This part of the trial is particularly confusing. According to the lawsuit, after Ludwig had heard of the rape: "George Perles, former sports director of the defendant Michigan State University, intervened and the charges were dropped against the coach, but she was forced to return the video , to resign and sign agreement. "
The reference to a video involves an alleged video of Nassar striker Davis.
The lawsuit does not explain the "fees" levied against the coach or the reason for a non-disclosure agreement.
As for the implication that Ludwig was forced to resign: MSU records show that Ludwig was still the field hockey coach in the fall of 1992. She left after this year, a season 6-14. Ludwig had a record of 20-57-5 over his four years at MSU.
Baker stated that she did not remember Ludwig, including the circumstances of his departure, and stated that the athletic director of the MSU did not have unilateral authority to dismiss the student. field hockey coach, supervised by an associate sports director.
5. The lawsuit suggests that "his coach" lobbied Davis to not report the assault.
From the lawsuit: "Her coach and the sports department lobbied the plaintiff Erika not to report this incident and was told if she reported she would lose her field hockey scholarship."
This statement appears to contradict the earlier assertion of the lawsuit that Ludwig went to the administration to report the rape.
"Who said (Davis) that she could lose her purse?" Baker said.
Baker said that his strong inclination to believe victims in sexual assault. On this trial, she said, "I'm not judgmental, I'm trying to put together the pieces of the puzzle and there are a lot of puzzling points."
Minor inconsistencies can arise during any rehearsal of an event, particularly when the event has been traumatic for a person, said Dr. Jim Hopper, Psychology Associate at the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School , who studies the neurobiology of trauma and sexual assault.
People often use contextual clues from their past to recall details of a major event, Hopper said. When victims are asked to specifically relate an assault, "they partially reconstruct things without realizing what they are doing," he said, adding that the emotionally important details focused on the time will generally remain consistent.
In the Davis trial case against Michigan State, Hopper said that it is also possible that lawyers, when they are trying to meet the deadline, confuse elements of the history of the victim or facts about the events.
"It has absolutely nothing to do with the memory of the victim," he said.
Rousseau said that lawyers who file a civil suit in federal court "must make a reasonable inquiry and ensure that they have evidence to support their facts".
However, she said, the "reasonable inquiry" test depends on the circumstances and judges take into account the possibility for a lawyer to have only a few days to investigate the complainant's claims.
Davis and his lawyer now have 21 days from September 10 to file an amended complaint that corrects any errors in the initial filing, said Rousseau.
There is also a 21-day window to file another amended complaint after MSU has given its response to the lawsuit.
"Even if there are errors in a lawsuit, there is a possibility to clean them up," she said.
MLive journalist Lauren Gibbons contributed to this report.
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