2023-12-13 05:58:02
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Former Buffalo Bills punter Matt Araiza was dropped from a lawsuit filed by a woman who alleged that several San Diego State players raped her in 2021.
The woman agreed to remove Araiza from the lawsuit she filed last year. For his part, the player will withdraw a countersuit in which he accused the woman of defamation.
The information was provided on Tuesday by Araiza’s lawyers, in a statement.
Araiza’s name will be removed from the lawsuit during the next week. The player will not pay any money to the woman and reserves the right to sue the complainant’s lawyer for the damage caused, the statement said, which considered the settlement “bittersweet.”
“Matt has been forced to defend himself over the past 16 months in the face of false accusations and a campaign to ruin his NFL career. He will never be able to get this time back in his life,” said attorneys Dick Semerdjian and Kristen Bush.
“Fortunately, there was ample and crucial evidence to secure Matt’s voluntary withdrawal from this lawsuit,” the statement added. “Matt was and always has been innocent. “The case is over and Matt has prevailed.”
Araiza intends to return to the NFL, his lawyers said.
The woman claimed that she was 17 years old in October 2021, when she went to a party. She claims that Araiza, who was 21 at the time, had sex with her in a courtyard of a house off campus.
Then, he would have taken her to a room, where a group of men raped her in turns. The woman reported the alleged sexual assault to San Diego police the next day.
Araiza has said that he remained in a backyard and never entered the house during the party. He adds that he left the scene almost half an hour before the alleged rape occurred.
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