Lansing State Journal Quotes Megan Bonanni on MSU’s 17-Month Delay in Saxena Case
Pitt McGehee Palmer Bonanni & Rivers Partner Megan Bonanni spoke with the Lansing State Journal about Michigan State University waiting 17 months to tell patients about sexual assault allegations against former university doctor Arpit Saxena. Megan Bonanni, who represented some of Larry Nassar’s victims, called the delay an institutional failure.
Megan Bonanni and co-counsel Lisa Esser-Weidenfeller represent a third woman who accuses Saxena of sexually assaulting her under the guise of medical treatment. On Oct. 7, they filed a notice of intent to sue MSU in the Michigan Court of Claims on her behalf. In court records she is identified as Jane Doe 1. According to the filing, the assault happened during a Jan. 9, 2025 appointment for hip pain she had after childbirth. That was several months before the two April 2025 complaints that led to criminal charges. She said she did not know she had been assaulted until the university sent a message to Saxena’s former patients on Sept. 14.
“To keep these patients in the dark for such a long period of time is prioritizing this doctor and the institution over patients, and that to me is completely unacceptable and there is no legitimate explanation for a delay of that length of time,” Megan Bonanni told the Lansing State Journal. “The only delay is to protect the institution.”
Megan Bonanni said she and Saxena’s victims are seeking transparency and accountability from the university. “We want the next patient or the next student who goes into an exam room, or who goes to law enforcement, campus police, to feel safer and to be safer,” she said. “Safer than our client was, and all of these victims. What this means is making fundamental and real changes to how MSU operates, in terms of how it supervises physicians, how it uses chaperones, how it responds when a patient comes forward.”
People who sue a public university like MSU must first file a notice of intent in the Court of Claims, usually within six months for a personal injury claim. In their notice, Megan Bonanni and Lisa Esser-Weidenfeller argue that “MSU fraudulently concealed information concerning Saxena and/or MSU’s own potential responsibility” and that the six-month window should not apply. Saxena faces criminal sexual conduct charges tied to the April 2025 complaints, and MSU police are now investigating a total of four complaints against him.
“Any changes in its policies and practices related to sexual abuse that MSU has claimed to have made have failed,” Megan Bonanni said. “That’s what this case tells us. We’re here again.”
Read the full article here: https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/local/campus/2026/10/09/msu-failed-patients-by-not-reporting-doctor-sooner-attorney-says/92152665007