James Heaps appears in Los Angeles Superior Court in 2019
(Picture: AP)The University of California will pay out $243.6 million (£185m) to hundreds of women who allege they were abused by a former university gynecologist.
Hundreds of women, some who had cancer, accused Dr. James Heaps of sex abuse during his 35-year career between 1983 and 2018.
The settlement covered 203 women who said they suffered sex abuse by the university gynaecologist.
Each will receive $1.2 million (£885,474), attorneys said.
The lawsuits said UCLA ignored decades of complaints and deliberately concealed abuse.
A UCLA statement said: “The conduct alleged to have been committed by Heaps is reprehensible and contrary to the university’s values.
“We express our gratitude to the brave individuals who came forward, and hope this settlement is one step toward providing healing and closure for the plaintiffs involved.”
UCLA began investigating Heaps in 2017 and he retired the next year after they refused to renew his contract.
Heaps was criminally charged last year with 21 counts of sexual offenses involving seven women. He has pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing.
One of the plaintiffs’ attorneys John C. Manly said: “Perpetrators are not the drooling ghoul that the media portrays them to be overtly.
“They’re nice people, they’re gregarious, they’re polite, they have good reputations, and that’s what these women faced.”
