USC will pay nearly $2 million to a former business student to settle the part of the case against the university and a professor in which the plaintiff alleged she was severely injured performing an exercise required of her as an elective while working toward her MBA.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lisa Jaskol signed an order Friday affirming the settlement agreement in which USC will pay $1.9 million to plaintiff Jill Johnson. The judge’s order also gives the nod to an earlier $4 million accord between Johnson and lawsuit co-defendants TSNY Los Angeles LLC and Trapeze School World Corp., which operated a trapeze school in Santa Monica.
Johnson’s suit alleged premises liability, negligence and negligent hiring, retention, training and supervision. In their earlier court papers, TSNY attorneys as well as USC lawyers contended that Johnson knew of the potential perils of the trapeze exercise and went forward with it anyway.
After a comprehensive safety assessment, the trapeze activity at the school near the Santa Monica Pier was officially approved by the administration department of the Marshall School of Business in 2007 and since then has been one of the off-campus activities included in the Fostering Creativity course, the USC lawyers further stated.
According to the suit originally filed in October 2023 and amended in April 2024, Johnson was a student at USC Marshall School of Business, working to obtain an MBA. She was required to take a number of elective units and enrolled in a course, “Fostering Creativity,” in which marketing professor Joseph Priester, as part of the course curriculum, scheduled a group lesson at trapeze school in 2023, the suit alleged.
Priester did not say the trapeze lesson was optional, nor did he provide alternative activities that students could complete, according to the suit.
Johnson told the professor she was concerned about the school’s weight limit and whether she would be able to participate, but he replied, “You are in great shape, and the weight will not be an issue,” the suit stated.
Priester knew that Johnson exceeded the 205-pound weight limit, but still encouraged her to participate, the suit stated.
During the second of two exercises, Johnson swung forward, then back, then forward again and tucked her legs and landed on the net after completing the back flip, but she felt one leg crumple beneath her, could not stand and saw blood pouring out of her leg, according to the suit.
USC owed Johnson an obligation to not expose her to unnecessary risk and to supervise and approve the curriculum of its professors, the suit stated.