Iowa to pay $5.7 million to settle public university claims

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Iowa has agreed to pay $5.7 million to settle eight separate discrimination and negligence claims at its public universities.

Those payments include $3.5 million to an Iowa City couple who accused UI Hospitals and Clinics doctors of negligence during the birth of their daughter, leaving the baby with permanent brain damage.

Another $1.8 million will be paid to a Massachusetts sound technician hurt while working a Luke Bryant concert at the University of Northern Iowa in 2018. The state also agreed to pay a total of $150,000 to three former UI police offers who sued in 2018 accusing the institution and its administrators of age and disability discrimination.

A payment of $25,000 will go to a woman who was a University of Iowa student in 2018 when she lost control and crashed her motorized scooter after the bike slipped on diesel fuel that had spilled from a campus bus. The crash caused injuries to the student’s neck, shoulder and hand and damage to her moped.

State officials agreed to the payments on Monday, the Gazette reported.

Because the settlements include claims of medical negligence at the UI Hospitals and Clinics, the UI Physicians group is paying $2.7 million of the $5.7 million total. The state general fund will cover the remaining $3 million.