Lawsuit seeking damages in US university's affirmative action case is settled

A lawsuit that prompted a 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decision over the University of Michigan's affirmative action admissions policies, which are meant to increase the enrollment of minority students, was settled Wednesday, concluding a nearly decade-old legal battle.

The university will pay $10,000 (€7,700) each to plaintiffs Jennifer Gratz and Patrick Hamacher to cover miscellaneous costs, the two sides said. In exchange, the two agreed to drop all claims under a nearly 40,000-member class-action lawsuit against the university seeking unspecified damages for its former affirmative action admissions policies.

"The university is pleased with today's resolution of the case," U-M spokeswoman Kelly Cunningham said in a statement Wednesday. "The case was dismissed and there was no finding that the university's pre-2003 admissions policies caused injuries to the plaintiffs."

"I think this is in the best interest of everybody," said Terry Pell, whose Center for Individual Rights sued the university in 1997. "There are obviously thousands of individuals who've been patiently waiting since 2003 to begin the process of claiming damages, and this allows them to do that more quickly than would have been the case."

In June 2003, the Supreme Court upheld a general affirmative action policy at Michigan's law school but struck down the university's undergraduate formula, which awarded admission points based on race. Gratz and Hamacher sued over the undergraduate formula.

In November, Michigan voters approved Proposal 2, which bans the use of race and gender preferences in university admissions and government hiring.