Friday, November 20, 2009 East Central Illinois

Another Jon White victim reaches tentative settlement

By: Mary Schenk

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Tuesday, November 18, 2008

URBANA — Another of the victims of former Urbana school teacher Jon White has reached a tentative settlement with the Urbana school district.

The child will receive $390,000, according to the terms of an agreement filed in Champaign County Circuit Court on Tuesday.

Thirty percent — $117,000 — will go to her attorney, Ellyn Bullock of Champaign, to cover her fees. The girl will receive the rest in the form of a structured settlement beginning when she is 18 and concluding in 2059.

Judge Brian McPheters approved the settlement, agreeing that the settlement figures but not the child’s identity should be made public.

The girl was a student of White, now 28, when he taught school at Thomas Paine Elementary School in Urbana.

He pleaded guilty in February in Champaign County to eight counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse for acts committed with eight girls between August 2005 and December 2006 in Urbana. He also pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse in McLean County for conduct with two girls who were students at the Normal school where he taught before coming to Urbana.

White is serving a 60-year prison sentence.

To date, lawsuits have been filed on behalf of eight of the girls in state and federal courts against White, the Urbana school district and McLean County Unit 5 school district.

The settlement on behalf of this girl releases the Urbana school district and the defendants who were its employees from further litigation, but not White or the Normal school district.

Bullock filed the suit in federal court in July on behalf of the girl and her mother, who is her guardian and primary caretaker. In her affidavit for fees, Bullock said she put in more than 320 hours on the case.

At least one other Champaign County victim has agreed to settle any claims against the Urbana school district for $300,000. That was done without her attorney filing a lawsuit.

Mark Netter, president of the Urbana school board, declined to comment on the settlement.

The district’s lawyers, Rachel Lutner of Chicago and Dennis Weedman of Collinsville — both of the law firm Robbins, Schwartz, Nicholas, Lifton & Taylor — did not return messages.

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