The Camden City School District has reached a settlement agreement with a former student who said she was sexually abused years ago by a teacher who is now the president of the school’s advisory board.
Advisory board president Wasim Muhammad, now 56, and the school district agreed to pay a total of $2 million to the plaintiff, which adds $400,000 in punitive damages to the $1.6 million a jury already awarded the woman. The settlement came earlier this month, just before jurors were expected to return to the Camden Court House to decide how much and if any punitive damages should be added to the original sum.
The original decision on the case was somewhat of a split decision, with jurors finding Muhammad did not sexually assault the plaintiff while she was a student, but answered yes to questions of whether the district’s and Muhammad’s behavior caused the woman lasting emotional distress.
“As we’ve said before, the jury was clear in the ruling that my client had no sexual contact with the plaintiff as a student in the Camden City School District,” Muhammad’s Attorney Troy Archie said last week. “Furthermore, this settlement again absolves the minister (Muhammad) of any and all liability regarding the previous allegations and implications, which we have said from the beginning were baseless and devoid of facts.”
Muhammad was accused by the plaintiff of sexually assaulting her for years beginning when she was a 14-year-old student at Cooper B. Hatch middle school in Camden in the 1990s. She claimed he continued assaulting her after she moved to Georgia and then convinced her to move back to Camden when she was 18.
Muhammad denied the woman’s allegations throughout the course of the three-year legal battle and testified in his own defense during the trial, claiming that the plaintiff became one of his many spiritual wives when she turned 18.
Archie and Muhammad held a press conference at Temple No. 20 in Camden where Muhammad is a minister, after the jury’s verdict and claimed victory.
“The minister is looking forward to going back to work in his community here in Camden City to serve the students of the district and work on improving and enhancing the quality of life for residents,” Archie added last week.
Muhammad remains on the Camden Advisory School Board having only stepped away from the board in January after Gov. Phil Murphy called for his resignation.
The governor’s office said last week it had nothing to add to its original statement. The New Jersey Department of Education did not respond to a request for comment.
Archie said Muhammad had not made a decision about whether he would resign or continue on the board, adding that the school year had ended and suggested Muhammad may use the summer to come to a final decision.
Jeffery P. Fritz, the plaintiff’s attorney, also claimed victory after the jury’s verdict in May and said Muhammad should still step down from the advisory board.
“We express gratitude to the jury for their service, and I am relieved that my client can focus on her healing journey,” Fritz said last week. “However, true healing cannot occur as long as Mr. Muhammad remains the Camden City School District Advisory Board President and the district does not reexamine its policies and training.”
The Camden City School District, which is currently under state control, and its advisory board have little say over governing the operations of the district, and school boards in general have limited power to remove elected officials. The superintendent in Camden is appointed by the state and the advisory board, while elected by the citizens of Camden, only acts in an advisory capacity.
Attorneys for the school district and Muhammad initially had appealed the jury’s decision to award $1.6 million in civil penalties and also filed for a new trial, claiming the jury’s mixed verdict was contradictory. Those motions were withdrawn, court records show.
An attorney for the Camden school district said the settlement did not mean the district admitted any wrongdoing.
“The district does not take liability for any of the allegations made by the plaintiff from 30 years ago,” the district’s attorney, Ashley M. Zimmerman, said about the terms of the $2 million settlement.
“The Camden City School District reaffirms and underscores its commitment to the health and welfare of our students, staff, and families. Moving forward the district’s number one priority, as it has always been, will be serving our community and educating the youth of this city.”
The school district is responsible for the full amount of the settlement, according to Archie. The district’s insurance carrier will pay $1.5 million, and the district will cover the additional $500,000 from its general budget, according to Archie. He said the district was expected to cover attorney’s fees, as well.
Attorney’s fees have run into the multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to the latest court filings in the case. The plaintiff’s attorney, Fritz, filed a motion with the court on June 3 to be paid just over $373,000 in attorney’s fees and another $111,975 in legal costs.
In her original lawsuit, the plaintiff accused Muhammad, then known as Don Walker, of showering her with attention as an eighth grader and then sexually assaulting her. She filed the complaint against Muhammad in September 2021 just after Gov. Murphy opened a window to file civil claims of sexual assault from years ago.
She claimed Muhammad took her to the Feather Nest Inn in Cherry Hill and to his home in Camden to sexually assault her. She claimed at least one employee in the district knew or should have known about it.
Muhammad allegedly continued assaulting her until she and her family moved to Georgia when she was in high school. The woman claimed he even traveled to Georgia and continued assaulting her there.
When the woman turned 18, she moved back to Camden and alleged that Muhammad took her to a pornographic movie theatre and forced her to have sex with a stranger in the bathroom.
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Matthew Enuco may be reached at Menuco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow Matt on X.
