University settles suit that said rape report was mishandled

NORFOLK, Va. – A university in Virginia has settled a lawsuit with a woman who claimed campus police interrogated her for nearly eight hours after she filed a rape report.

The Virginian-Pilot reported Monday that Old Dominion University in Norfolk paid out $249,000.

University spokeswoman Giovanna Genard said the money came with no “admission of wrongdoing.” She said the settlement is a “mutually agreeable compromise” that avoids the “expense and uncertainties of trial.”

A jury trial was set for Feb. 20 in U.S. District Court.

According to the lawsuit, the 18-year-old freshman was raped after an off-campus party. The lawsuit said she called police the next day, and that an officer took her in for questioning instead of to a hospital. The suit says police also questioned the suspect and declined to pursue charges.

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Information from: The Virginian-Pilot, http://pilotonline.com