The parties involved in a lawsuit alleging hazing on the University of Virginia swimming & diving team have reached a settlement this week.
The specific terms of the settlement are confidential, but NBC29.com reports that one stipulation of the settlement is that the Virginia swim team’s “Welcome Week” activities will no longer take place.
The suit was between Anthony Marcantonio, a former freshman on the Virginia swim team, and five of his former UVA teammates: Kyle Dudzinski, Luke Papendick, Charlie Rommel, David Ingraham and Jacob Pearce.
Marcantonio had claimed he was hazed by the five, who were upperclassmen on the team during Marcantonio’s freshman season. Among the allegations were that the older swimmers subjected the first-year swimmers to a series of hazing tactics that included blindfolding, forcing them to drink beers, liquor, milk and prune juice, and some hazing activities that were sexual in nature. The upperclassmen claimed Marcantonio consented to the activities and could have left at any time.
You can read more about the original lawsuit here.
The five defendants asked a judge to strike down the lawsuit on the grounds that Marcantonio’s side hadn’t provided enough evidence to support the allegations. The judge did strike down several of the 10 charges, but didn’t completely dismiss the case. You can read more about that here.
Most recently, the two sides set a court-ordered date to discuss possible settlements. That conference was originally scheduled for yesterday, March 28.
Now it appears the case will end in a settlement, with neither side pressing on to what would have been a September trial.