Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston has resolved a lawsuit which has been standing against him for over a year, settling the claim outside of court for an undisclosed amount.
Jameis Winston Settles Lawsuit With Accuser
The suit was filed in a federal court in Florida in April of 2015 by Erica Kinsman. Kinsman accused Winston of assault, false imprisonment, intentionally inflicting emotional distress and sexual battery in 2012 when both individuals were students at Florida State University. In terms of relief, Kinsman sought damages upwards of $15,000 and a jury trial for Winston.
TMZ Sports first reported the settlement on Wednesday. The attorney for Kinsman, John Clune, then confirmed the settlement to ESPN’s Mark Schlabach later that night. The case was set to go to trial in Orlando on April 3, 2017, but both parties will now be filing dismissals with the court.
This isn’t the first time that Kinsman has settled a suit in regards to the incident with Winston, for which Winston was never hit with any criminal charges. Earlier this year, Kinsman settled a Title IX suit against Florida State, alleging that the university was indifferent to the sexual assault of a student.
The settlement included damages of $950,000 and a commitment by the university to increased programs for awareness, prevention and training regarding sexual assaults for a period of five years. The $950,000 in monetary damages represents the largest dollar amount in the settlement of a Title IX case ever.
This settlement ends this drama for both parties as far as the law is concerned, but neither Kinsman nor Winston have yet commented as to whether it really satisfied both/either party. Their motivations for settling will probably remain their own in perpetuity, and the public may never know what really happened on that night in 2012.
