Activist group drops lawsuit against MSU over Nassar case due to 'bittersweet victory'

FOX 2 (WJBK) - A major lawsuit filed against Michigan State University over the Larry Nassar scandal has been dropped and those behind it believe they are closer to learning the truth.

"We’re really happy that the board decided to make this vote a public vote," said Valerie Von Frank. "I think it is because of a lot of pressure on the board to do so."

Michigan State’s board of trustees voted publicly in December 2023 to release 6,000 documents regarding the Larry Nassar case to state Attorney General Dana Nessel. Nessel has repeatedly asked for the documents to be released, but the school previously declined. She said she wanted the more-than-6,000 documents to see how the investigation was handled.

Von Frank, the director of POSSE, believes the board did so due to the pressure they felt from her organization's lawsuit.

"It’s a bittersweet victory," she said. "We feel like it’s a step forward, but again the trust with the university is not there for the sister survivors."

Von Frank is the executive director of POSSE - Parents of Sister Survivors Engage, a parent group that formed after the Nassar scandal broke in 2016. He was convicted of sexually assaulting hundreds of young women, at MSU including many gymnasts, as well as those on the US Olympic Gymnastics team for years.

Von Frank's daughter is a survivor. She says seeking the truth about when and what MSU knew has been difficult for years.

But everything changed in April 2023, when Posse learned of a closed-door meeting.

Related: MSU Board of Trustees approves release of Larry Nassar documents

"We decided to put in a Freedom of Information Act request to the university and got back an email from one of the trustees that was completely redacted," she said.

FOX 2 obtained it from POSSE attorney Azzam Elder.

"And then I uncovered an email that pretty much said the board made a final decision not to have a public vote, not to release the documents," Elder said.

An email Elder received later, had no redactions, given to him anonymously.  He and POSSE subsequently filed the lawsuit in July 2023.

"That’s what gave us the leverage I think, to force them strategically to have the public vote, which they had a few weeks ago," Elder said.

And vote to waive the attorney-client privilege and release the docs.

"So now the attorney general has the power to say ‘Here’s the subpoena, give me all the documents, I want to finish the investigation once and for all,'" he said.

Von Frank believes the new board President Dr. Rema Vassar has brought change that has led to transparency - but theres more work that needs to be done.

"My ultimate goal in starting this, was to give something back to my daughter from whom so much had been taken," she said.

FOX 2 has reached out to Trustee Brianna Scott and the attorney general's office for a statement and we are waiting for a response.

Larry Nassar stands as he is sentenced by a judge for three counts of criminal sexual assault in Eaton County Circuit Court on February 5, 2018 in Charlotte, Michigan. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)