Nighswander Pays $10K Settlement For Still Possessing Student's Photos
ATHENS, OH (August 27, 2007) - According to a consent decree filed in Fairfield (OH) County Common Pleas Court, former Ohio University School of Visual Communication professor Larry Nighswander has agreed to pay OU student Rebecca Humes a new sum of $10,000 to resolve her latest legal claim against him.
The new consent decree says that Nighswander is forbidden to make any public comment about the consent degree, Humes, or members of her family.
If Nighswander violates the terms of this latest settlement, he risks having to pay Humes an additional $500,000, the consent decree says.
Today's Athens News reports this recent settlement stems from the discovery of photos of Humes found on Nighswander's computer equipment long after a $3 million federal sexual harassment suit by Humes against Nighswander was settled in 2005. In that settlement, OU and Nighswander had paid Humes a $350,000 settlement, which included a legal commitment by Nighswander to discard or destroy any photographs he had taken of his former student Humes. The agreement also gave Humes free tuition to graduate school at OU, and Nighswander left the university afterwards.
Humes sued Nighswander again in June 2006 in Fairfield County claiming a breach of that settlement agreement, along with fraudulent misrepresentation, after she and her lawyers learned from OU officials that the photos of Humes still existed on Nighswander's computer equipment, which had been discovered when police were searching Nighswander's computers while investigating an unrelated case.
In the original settlement, Nighswander agreed that any images he had of Humes would be "permanently and irretrievable deleted and/or destroyed." Nighswander testified in federal deposition in the the case that he no longer had any images of Humes in his possession, the Athens News reports.
The initial federal sexual harassment lawsuit stemmed from an incident in which Nighswander photographed the semi-nude Humes while she was an undergraduate student at OU. Humes claimed that during the photo session Nighswander touched her without her permission, and made inappropriate noises and comments. Nighswander denied any wrongdoing or sexual harassment but admitted to the photo session. After Humes sued Nighswander, at least two other female OU students came forward with similar allegations against Nighswander, the Athens News' Jim Phillips reports.
In July 2005, Fairfield County sheriff's deputies searched Nighswander's photography business near Pickerington, OH, while investigating a fraudulent eMail that had been sent to an OU search committee. The eMail was believed to have been sent from a computer at Nighswander's business, but no charges were filed following the investigation. However, in the course of examining the digital data on Nighswander's computers, sheriffs discovered the photos of Humes which Nighswander claimed he had already destroyed, and they informed OU officials of the images. OU informed Humes and her lawyers, and in October 2006 the new suit was filed.
The settlement in this most recent case also says the Fairfield County sheriff's department will destroy any items that contain images of Humes. The other computer equipment cannot be returned to him, the consent decree says, until after Nighswander pays for a forensic computer expert, one approved by Humes, to certify that the equipment and discs do not contain any images of her, or contain anything from which the images of her could be restored.
The consent decree says that Fairfield County judge Chris Martin will keep jurisdiction over the case to make sure Nighswander complies, and so that he can start contempt proceedings if Nighswander doesn't comply. The decree says that if Nighswander violates the agreement he will have to pay Humes $500,000 in damages plus any legal costs that Humes incurs obtaining court orders to halt any violation of the decree.
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