McIntosh case settlements reached

Former Penn professor Tracy McIntosh and the University of Pennsylvania have both reached settlements in a civil suit filed by the graduate student McIntosh sexually assaulted in 2002, according to case records filed in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.

Court documents reveal that the victim's lawyer sent a letter Oct. 23 notifying the court that the victim had reached a settlement with Penn, the details of which were kept confidential.

Further court documents also reveal that McIntosh recently reached a settlement with the victim, in which a judgment was entered against McIntosh "in the amount of $500,000 . pursuant to and subject to a separate confidential agreement entered between the parties."

The judgment does not legally require McIntosh to pay this sum - rather, it will likely be used by the victim to compel McIntosh to cooperate in the agreement that the two parties reached.

The civil suit filed against McIntosh and the University in 2004 included the implication of a number of Penn institutions and officials, whom the victim alleged as complicit in ignoring complaints about McIntosh's behavior because of his reputation.

Court documents reveal that a nonjury trial - which was scheduled for November - would have raised the issue of McIntosh's many sexual relationships with several other female employees and graduate students in the lab that McIntosh headed at the University.

During the trial, the documents indicate that the plaintiff also would have brought counts of negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress and civil conspiracy against the University, making claims that the "pattern of conduct" by McIntosh was well known by administrators and colleagues at the Medical School and the University failed to "exercise reasonable care in the retention and supervision" of McIntosh because of his status as a world-renowned brain-injury researcher.

Specifically, the plaintiff would have argued that University officials either failed to disclose knowledge of McIntosh's actions or engaged in inadequate investigations of those actions.

University spokeswoman Lori Doyle declined to comment on the settlement, citing confidentiality issues.

Though the civil cases are now closed, McIntosh still faces a potential prison sentence on charges of sexual assault after his original sentence of 11 to 23 months of house arrest and eight years of probation was overturned by the Pennsylvania Superior Court in November.

The case has been sent to a lower court for resentencing, though McIntosh filed for a petition to appeal the resentencing order on Dec. 7, 2006.

If the Pennsylvania Supreme Court does not agree to hear his case, he could be sentenced to a maximum of five and a half to 11 years in prison.

Thomas Bergstrom, McIntosh's lawyer, could not be reached for comment regarding either the settlement or the appeal.

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