Stanford Settles Lawsuit with Katie Meyer's Family

Stanford University and the family of Katie Meyer, a former standout women's soccer goalkeeper who died by suicide in 2022, have reached a settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit filed against the school.

The agreement, announced in a joint statement this week, resolves the legal action initiated by Meyer's parents in Santa Clara County Superior Court in November 2022. Meyer, a 22-year-old team captain from Newbury Park, California, was found dead in her on-campus dorm room on February 28, 2022, the day after receiving a formal disciplinary notice from the university. The notice accused her of violating Stanford's Fundamental Standard in connection with an August 2021 incident in which she spilled coffee on a football player. According to the lawsuit, the player had been accused of sexually assaulting one of Meyer's teammates, a minor at the time, and Meyer had acted in defense of her teammate. The family alleged that the university handled the matter negligently and recklessly, sending the notice late at night with language threatening sanctions and potential expulsion, which exacerbated Meyer's distress just months before her scheduled graduation.