Report: Winston, accuser reach settlement of civil suit

Posted by Zac Jackson on December 14, 2016, 8:37 PM EST
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Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston and the woman who accused him of rape in 2012 have reached a settlement, TMZ reported Wednesday.

The report said details of the settlement are unclear, but said Winston and his accuser will file a joint dismissal of her civil lawsuit against him.

Winston was never criminally charged. The accuser, Erica Kinsman, filed the civil suit against him in April 2015, not long before he became the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft.

Kinsman was awarded $950,000 via a settlement earlier this year after she sued Florida State University, claiming the university had botched the investigation and focused on keeping Winston on the football team.

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63 responses to “Report: Winston, accuser reach settlement of civil suit”

  4. I don’t blame him for settling. Not at all. I do believe there’s her story, his story, and then there’s the truth. It’s somewhere in between. I just hope all involved can move forward with their lives.

  7. All of you who are apparently completely oblivious to College football culture.
    What position is James putting himself in in the first place with a passed out girl claiming the sex was consensual? Bringing her home on his scooter after she was given a mysterious drink?
    What does this girl have to gain being ostracized from her school and ridiculed daily over something that horrific. Causing her to transfer and basically waste years of her life.
    It’s been said 100 times but I’ll say it again. He was a REDSHIRT at the time, not a starter. That’s less than a backup.
    Less than for instance Montez coming in for CU. She had no idea who he was.
    And if you look at the treatment of the case by the university, campus police and Tallahassee police, football victim or not was absolutely nothing less than atrocious.
    So yeah go on with your kids ‘payday’ comments and see how that would even have been possible when she reported it the day after and his stature within the program.

  9. Let that be a lesson to you young kids, Don’t rape anyone unless you plan to be rich, in which case these things can become mere annoyances.

  10. Because unfortunately that is how our justice system is setup. Sad but sometimes it’s just cheaper and less aggravation.

  11. You only settle when you committed the crime and are caught but have an out because you are rich and a qb on an NFL team and hot shot qb in FSU in the limelight. Football towns like that let their stars get away with some crazy things. He even became delusional and stole food, walked right out the front door like nothing. Good qb tho. Fine young man

  12. “Mr Wright 212”, did you even read the article-she has already been awarded $950,000 from FSU and reached a settlement with Winston(which means he is paying her off to make it go away)…This sounds like she made out with quite a bit of money.

  14. barrywhererufrom says:
    Dec 14, 2016 9:00 PM
    Why settle if you didnt do anything wrong?
    ———————–
    Remember, he was using her too. She also settled.

  15. barrywhererufrom,

    The same reason businesses and major corporations settle, even if they are in the right; Money

    It’s cheaper to cut someone a check than to drag it through litigation, pay thousands to lawyers, and waste hundreds of hours of your life.

    Even if you are found not liable, it’s still less expensive/easier to settle in the long run.

  18. caicc says:
    Dec 14, 2016 8:49 PM
    I don’t blame him for settling. Not at all. I do believe there’s her story, his story, and then there’s the truth. It’s somewhere in between. I just hope all involved can move forward with their lives.
    ———————————————————————————
    I love when people say this. So, if I tell my story and it’s the complete truth and your story is a complete lie then the real truth lays somewhere in between? In between the truth and a lie is the real story?

  19. barrywhererufrom says:
    Dec 14, 2016 9:00 PM
    Why settle if you didnt do anything wrong?

    “The report said details of the settlement are unclear, but said Winston and his accuser will file a joint dismissal of her civil lawsuit against him.”

    Read.

  20. “Why settle if you didnt do anything wrong?”

    Lawyers just as expensive as a settlement. Why deal with a trial if winning gets you nothing?

  21. Some awful responses here from people who assume they know what happened in a rape case. Don’t pass judgment without all the facts.

  23. What a bunch of classy fellas on this site. She is 2 for 2 in getting more powerful entities, Jameis Inc. and FSU, to buckle and pay up… a minor form of justice. They have 10-20 times the power and resources she had and she still got settlements out of both… tells me neither Jameis nor FSU are the innocent victims many of you think. Too bad the local police screwed the investigation so badly that she never got her day in court. But on the other hand, I get it guys. It is probably easier to believe in gold digging women, then come to terms with the reality that innocent people get raped and criminals get away. At least that way, you can persist in the fantasy that it would never happen to you or your loved ones. Or better yet, you can convince yourself you’re not cheering for a rapist.

  24. barrywhererufrom says:
    Dec 14, 2016 9:00 PM

    Why settle if you didnt do anything wrong?
    —————————————————-
    It wouldn’t be the first time an innocent person was railroaded, not saying nothing happened but the truth was somewhere between their stories.

  25. Almost a million from the university and now this hush money settlement from Winston. No wonder these girls chase the athletes. Too often it’s an easy payday.

  26. @barrywhereufrom You settle to be done with it and not have to go to civil trial. In a civil trial the scales of justice only need to tip slightly one way or the other to be found liable unlike in a criminal trial. You dont need to be guilty to be found liable in a civil trial. He easily could have had to fork out a lot more dough to her. Thats why you settle even if you did nothing wrong.

  27. The evidence seems pretty clear that the investigation was botched. No amount of money will heal the emotional wounds, but perhaps the settlement may at least give her an easier life going forward.

  28. barrywhererufrom says:

    “Why settle if you didnt do anything wrong?”
    ——————————————————-

    If he really did it, why would she be willing to just settle and not go the full length to make sure he doesnt do this to anyone else?

  31. Because the distraction follows you and whether you did it or not the accusation is always damning. It’s the same reason people who aren’t guilty plead guilty, it’s just easier on them than fighting it tooth and nail.

    You live in make believe if you think settling is an admission of guilt. Or criminal system is set up to where as long as she keeps accusing, he has to keep defending, how much do you think his lawyers are getting? It’s cheaper for him to settle.

  32. barrywhererufrom says:
    Dec 14, 2016 9:00 PM
    Why settle if you didnt do anything wrong?

    ———————-

    Because it’s bad media thus hurts his future deals and sponsorship. Not many companies are going to want to deal with somebody going through a rape allegation, especially when the accuser is doing her best to make sure people know, her “situation” had a mini tv special for christ sake – AFTER the police closed the thing (with a piss poor job at that) because her story isn’t really credible going by CoC statements and what not.

    Yeah. It’s better to just settle.

  33. Why settle if you didnt do anything wrong?
    _______________________________

    It’s not that simple. Say he did nothing. He can NEVER prove that. If he can take a month’s pay to get this over and done with for good, maybe it’s for the best. Say he DID do something? Of course he settles.

  34. The facts of this case should terrify any young man.

    You can have consensual sex with a woman, which was briefly witnessed by teammates playing a prank by “accidentally” pushing the door open.

    Months can pass before she decides she was raped by you, despite reporting to the authorities months earlier that she was raped by someone of a completely different race.

    Tests can reveal that she had sex with multiple people during the weekend when the incident is alleged to have happened.

    She can accuse you of drugging her, despite absolutely no drugs being found in her system during a test done shortly after the alleged incident.

    She can refer to herself as a “cleat chaser” who has the express intention of going home with student athletes.

    You can have multiple eye witnesses stating that she wasn’t as drunk as she says she was (if at all) and that she was taking the lead during the act.

    The authorities, and your University, can investigate it and find that there’s nothing on which to press charges or discipline you at all.

    You’ll still be branded a rapist by a section of society, despite the overwhelming evidence that you did nothing wrong and be forced to defend spurious civil claims pushed by lawyers chasing money.

    Her story has changed multiple times and has been proven to be materially inaccurate several times. Despite this, the civil cases were allowed to proceed.

    This woman was clearly chasing money by alleging a crime which never happened and it is absolutely shameful. It takes away from the credibility of real victims when people make up allegations as serious as these. You may think it will never happen to you, but you are just one lie away from being another Brian Banks.

  35. “Why settle if you didnt do anything wrong?”

    **************************************************

    To bring it to an end instead of it hanging over his head and career for years to come. There is no way to prove that he didn’t rape her. Both of them agree that there was sex, he said it was consensual, she said it wasn’t. Who can tell if he was right or she was right.

    Sexual contact is not a spectator sport, so he was better off just settling it with no admission of guilt and she has the money that she has always wanted.

    No winners, no losers.

  36. If there were criminal charges that held water, I could understand. That being said we are living in a society that says its ok to use extortion if you have the walk of shame the next morning. if it is Rape call the police, not your lawyer!

  37. It’s over. Tired of hearing about these two. I too agree each has their story with the truth somewhere in the middle. I hope universities use this event in their freshman curriculum for all students ‘How not to be an Idiot.’

  38. Smoke –> Fire.

    Since law enforcement didn’t do their job, Erica had no other options for any kind of justice. Good for her, getting something for being violated like that.

    Big time college football players are always getting away with s*** in football towns. Investigations just somehow disappear or fade away and nothing happens through the criminal justice system. Y’all read that last paragraph above where FSU had to fork over money for doing just that, right?

    What if it was YOUR sister or daughter, dudebros?

  40. I usually settle a lawsuit… especially if I’m innocent… AND my school already paid her almost $1MM…… yeah.. I am innocent as all get out.

  41. “Why settle if you didnt (sic) do anything wrong?”

    Someone always posts this opinion. Then someone else has to poont out that lawsuits are settled for many reasons having nothing to do with right or wrong.

  42. barrywhererufrom says:
    Dec 14, 2016 9:00 PM

    Why settle if you didnt do anything wrong?

    ————————————————————-

    As Florio could tell you, it’s a cost-benefit analysis. What’s the cost of continuing to defend (lawyers are $$$pricey$$$ bless their hearts) and the distraction of it all, vs the settlement price of putting it all behind you and moving on.

  43. Why hasn’t the sheild investigated this as hard & as long as they have been investigating Zeke? I hate the guy, but it seems peculiar that it is an “open” investigation, while Winston must be at fault for something if he is paying her off, and there is nothing.

    Maybe Rog is a Michigan fan.

  44. barrywhererufrom says:
    Dec 14, 2016 9:00 PM

    Why settle if you didn’t do anything wrong?
    ———————————————————————–

    It’s common practice to settle, even in cases you’re confident your client did nothing wrong. Going to trial is always risky. Essentially, every time you decide between trial and a settlement, you’re conducting a cost-benefit-analysis; and leaving your fate in the hands of an unpredictable, and often irrational jury (that may have preconceived notions that aren’t true about the case), is extremely risky. Pay the money and move on.

  47. “Why settle if you didnt do anything wrong?”

    Because she would’ve kept hounding him. She had already lost the police investigation, the university investigation. A civil suit just requires the majority to go along with her instead of everyone. Shakedown from day 1.

  50. Why is it such a stretch for some of you to think that a spoiled athlete that is unwilling to take no for an answer during competition, takes what he wants even if it’s not his (crab legs) to have sexually assaulted someone? Especially at Florida State who has a long history of athletes and sexual assaults.

  51. i’m puzzled by people conflating “the investigation was botched” with “he’s guilty”. The biggest disservice to Jameis might have been the botched and delayed investigation. The long delay before gathering important evidence allowed the accuser to present 3 different versions of what happened that night during the course of this shakedown, and allowed her and her friends to also tamper with evidence by deleting specific texts from their phones.

    i have been in situations in business litigation where the other party knows they are in the wrong, i know they are in the wrong, but proving they are wrong by way of the legal system would cost several times more than just settling and moving on. as one patent attorney told me when handling a patent troll case on my behalf (he encouraged me to settle for about 10% of the projected court cost), “clients who fight things out of principle only end up making me richer and their companies poorer, while getting a less certain result”

  53. mcdeez22 says:
    Dec 14, 2016 9:49 PM
    Some awful responses here from people who assume they know what happened in a rape case. Don’t pass judgment without all the facts.
    —-

    Public record of the court hearings beg to differ. I highly doubt you even glanced at them let alone being the voice of reason without warrant.

  55. Also, just so all of you know. The United States Federal Rules of evidence employ what they call ‘rape shield laws,’ i.e. laws which have bestow a much friendly burden of proof for the plaintiff. This is because Rape is such a commonly falsely alleged crime. I’m not here to say it did or didn’t happen, but do you really want to say this guy was guilty when he has neither admitted, nor been proven to be guilty, if so, you should move to Russia where you’ll have your way.

  57. Some of you can’t read. If he settled with her with money to make it go away, it would have said so. He did counter sue her, thus the wording of this statement of them agreeing to settle. This was an agreement both ways to drop it, and the fact that there was no nondisclosure agreement present tells me that no money was exchanged. My guess is that the windfall (the little of it that she actually got since the lawyers got the bulk of it) from the university was enough for her not to go through the embarrassment of the trial that some of the details there would expose, and he of course didn’t want to go through iti because even though from all angles you look at it (for anyone who has taken time to read the full documents available on this incident from toxicology reports that contradict her, to 7 different conflicting stories from Kinsman, to even the rape kit that revealed multiple sex partners that she was lying about) no rape occurred, Winston’s behavior that night was indicative of the sloppiness young people often engage in and look back on as an older person and might be a bit ashamed that they were acting that way.

  58. The facts used against Florida State were compelling and the story depicts Winston in an extremely negative light.

    One thing to consider is that Ms. Kinsman was completely Ok with opening up her entire life to the harsh light of a civil proceeding and take her chances. Mr. Winston was not. Each person would have been vilified and the press would have had a feeding frenzy. Being OK with that takes guts in my opinion.

    It is over for each of them and that is best for both. I honestly believe that wasting hate thought toward either is a waste of time. It’s resolved and has no impact on the vast majority of our lives. If it does impact you directly you have my sympathies.

  60. You’ll still be branded a rapist by a section of society, despite the overwhelming evidence that you did nothing wrong and be forced to defend spurious civil claims pushed by lawyers chasing money.

    Her story has changed multiple times and has been proven to be materially inaccurate several times. Despite this, the civil cases were allowed to proceed.”

    Amen. There are people in this comment section today still calling him a rapist and using wrong facts to support it (one guy referenced a “mysterious drink” even though it was proven a TWICE by the most thorough of testing that she was NOT drugged)

    Also from what I have heard she is getting $0. I don’t think Winston wanted to settle (and instead pursue his counter suit) but this ends all this nonsense for good.

    It’s crazy she got almost a million dollars for being a horrible person. Great job America

  62. mzew233 says:
    Dec 14, 2016 9:05 PM
    All of you who are apparently completely oblivious to College football culture.
    What position is James putting himself in in the first place with a passed out girl claiming the sex was consensual? Bringing her home on his scooter after she was given a mysterious drink?
    What does this girl have to gain being ostracized from her school and ridiculed daily over something that horrific. Causing her to transfer and basically waste years of her life.
    It’s been said 100 times but I’ll say it again. He was a REDSHIRT at the time, not a starter. That’s less than a backup.
    Less than for instance Montez coming in for CU. She had no idea who he was.
    And if you look at the treatment of the case by the university, campus police and Tallahassee police, football victim or not was absolutely nothing less than atrocious.
    So yeah go on with your kids ‘payday’ comments and see how that would even have been possible when she reported it the day after and his stature within the program.
    ___________________________________

    She didn’t know who he was? LOL! Jameis was a 5 star QB Recruit guy. Everyone knew who that guy was.

  63. There are some really stupid people posting here:

    “Why settle if he didn’t do it?”
    -Legal fees are very expensive. If this dragged on long enough, he’d probably rack up hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees.
    -Maybe he just wants it over. He might rather just pay out the money (he can afford it) than let this fester in the media for two more years.
    -Maybe he did do something wrong that was short of rape, but he’s worried there is enough circumstantial evidence to find for the plaintiff. This is a civil suit, so the judge only needs to find a 51% likelihood the allegations are true. It’s not the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard for a guilty verdict in a criminal trial.
    -Maybe there is something else going on of which we know nothing. Your BS rhetorical questions doesn’t conclude anything.

    “Why did she settle if she’s telling the truth?”
    -Being forced to relive and recite your rape over and over for years is probably not fun. I’d imagine it’s exhausting and maybe traumatizing. Maybe she just wants to move on with her life.
    -Given that the Tallahassee PD clearly botched their investigation, it’s possible that even if Winston did it, there simply isn’t enough evidence to feel confident that she would win in a civil suit. Without hard evidence, it becomes “he said, she said,” which is tough to prove. Could be a toss-up. So better to take $950,000 than nothing.
    -“She got money, so obviously that’s what she wanted all along” is an almost incomprehensibly stupid statement. She wanted criminal charges. Thanks to the Tallahassee PD, that is not an option. She wanted Winston in jail. She can’t have that. So, yes, she is taking a million dollars from him. Why is that wrong? What other option does she have? This is how our legal system works. If you can’t send someone to prison, you sue them in civil court, which, most of the time, means a money judgment. Other than taking justice into her own hands and having him physically assaulted, she doesn’t really have any options.
    -Again, maybe there is something else going on about which we know nothing. Maybe she has fallen in love with someone and just wants this Winston nonsense done. Maybe she’s just tired of all. Who knows? You don’t.

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