Attorney for Sandusky victim says first part of settlement talks completed

Philadelphia-based attorney Tom Kline, who represents the man identified as Victim 5 in Sandusky’s child sexual abuse trial, gave the update Thursday morning to a throng of media gathered outside the Centre County Courthouse.

Minutes earlier, inside the courthouse, Sandusky’s defense argued a judge should overturn the pedophile’s conviction and grant a new trial because his attorneys weren’t given enough time to prepare.

As the sides wait — likely weeks — for Senior Judge John Cleland to rule on the motions, civil attorneys for Victim 5 and at least 19 other men will continue to talk settlements with Penn State.

“Where we are now is what I would call the brass-tacks part of negotiations,” Kline told reporters and camera crews.

“Phase one was fact gathering,” Kline said. “Negotiators from Penn State looked to determine facts — were these young men injured, was it on Penn State property, was it before or after the now infamous (Mike) McQueary incident?

“That’s done,” he continued. “We’re now getting to the point where we are actually talking about money and talking about whether the case is going to be resolved.”

Penn State previously set a self-imposed deadline to settle claims by the end of 2012, but announced in December it would not meet that goal. Kenneth R. Feinberg, one of the attorneys Penn State retained in September to settle the claims out of court, said talks will resume this year.

Kline called the university’s initial deadline unrealistic, but said the sides have made progress. Although he declined to provide a specific time-frame for a settlement, he said the sides were “somewhere in the middle” in talks.

“But sometimes the middle to the end is a very long process,” he said. “Sometimes the middle to the end is the harder process.”

Feinberg said last month there had been “excellent progress” in negotiations. Kline seemed to echo that optimism Thursday.

“The tone and the tenor and the context of the negotiations have been most serious and most deliberate,” he said. “Penn State has gone about this with very professional negotiators ... who are very skillful and very experienced.”