The legal dispute around former Michigan football staffer LaTroy Lewis is no longer headed for a public trial. The University of Michigan has now agreed to a civil payout tied to allegations involving a former assistant who once worked under Sherrone Moore.
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The university agreed to pay $1.2 million to resolve potential legal claims connected to those allegations. Of that total, $848,000 goes to the woman involved. And another $352,000 goes to her attorney, Karen Truszkowski of Temperance Legal Group in Lansing.
This is a civil settlement and not a criminal fine. The Detroit Free Press, which obtained the agreement, reported that the deal was reached earlier in the summer of 2026. An exact date has not been made public.
Under the agreement, the woman and Truszkowski released legal claims against the university and its current or former employees. Both sides accepted a confidentiality clause on settlement details. They also accepted a non-disparagement clause, and the contract lets Michigan say, if asked by the media, that the dispute has been resolved, as reported by The Detroit Free Press.
The settlement text states that the university denies the allegations. A payout is not a finding of wrongdoing or proof that the claims were true. It is also not a public ruling that they were false.
On February 27, 2026, the woman sought a PPO in Washtenaw County Circuit Court. Judge Tracey Van den Bergh found Lewis “poses a credible threat to the physical safety” of the woman.
In the petition, written in capital letters, she stated, “Raped & assaulted me, threatened to kill me.” The petition also said, “LaTroy repeatedly threatened my life … Raped & beat me.” Those lines were her allegations in the filing. Lewis has denied the allegations through his attorney.
Ann Arbor police later closed their investigation into Lewis. Spokesman Chris Page said in an August 25 email that the department had closed the case. Liz Mack, spokeswoman for Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savitt, said the office never received a request for prosecution, as reported by the Detroit Free Press. No criminal charges were filed.
How the LaTroy Lewis case got pulled into Michigan’s bigger mess
Lewis worked for Michigan football under Moore. He had also been on Jim Harbaugh’s staff in 2022. In 2024, his roles were described as graduate assistant, defensive analyst, and assistant defensive line coach.
He left Michigan after the 2024 season. He later coached at Toledo, had a brief stop at UConn, and was hired by the Atlanta Falcons as assistant defensive line coach on Feb. 10, 2026.
The alleged incident was said to have occurred on Dec. 5, 2024, at Weber’s Boutique Hotel in Ann Arbor. According to Truszkowski, the two matched on Bumble in July 2024 and communicated for months. The woman sent gifts, including an iPad and golf clubs, before they met.
The attorney said the meeting was arranged so Lewis would return those items. She alleged that Lewis then raped and battered her. Lewis has denied them through counsel.
Lewis’s attorney, Fabiola A. Galguera, called the accusations false. The attorney said a PPO granted without the accused’s input is not proof of the conduct and Lewis intended to “fiercely fight these false allegations with the support of his wife, family, and my team.”
A separate police contact came in January 2025 in Milford. Neighbors heard raised voices at the woman’s home. Both parties told officers it was a verbal argument in an ongoing romantic relationship. The woman said they had been dating about five months.
Officers reported no signs of physical abuse. No charges were filed. Truszkowski later said Lewis physically abused her client that night, but that she was too afraid to tell police then. That call is not the same as the later Ann Arbor sexual-assault investigation.
Police said they were “just recently made aware” in late February 2026 of a sexual assault reported to have occurred on December 5, 2024. They named Lewis as the suspect.
The Falcons first said they were gathering information. They fired Lewis the same day, Feb 27, 2026, after less than three weeks on staff. Michigan did not fire him in 2026. He was already off the U-M payroll.
Truszkowski alleged the woman told Moore the next day. She said her client knew him personally and that contact included Snapchat. She alleged Moore did not report Lewis, “weaponized” the incident, and sent lewd texts.
Moore’s lawyer, Ellen Michaels, denied that and stated, “Sherrone Moore did not fail to report misconduct, did not reward wrongdoing, and did not harass anyone. These claims are false.”
Truszkowski has said she approached Michigan’s general counsel in January 2026 and also spoke with Jenner & Block. She said her client had not spoken to those investigators because of confidentiality concerns.
The settlement lands in an already rough year for Michigan athletics. Moore was fired after the university said he lied about a relationship with subordinate Paige Shiver. He was arrested after going to her home, pleaded no contest to two misdemeanors, and received probation.
Athletic director Warde Manuel is leaving with a buyout reported at more than $7 million. The university paid about $12 million for a Jenner & Block culture review of 300 witnesses and more than 20,000 documents.