The University of Arizona’s former pharmacy dean has reached a settlement with a woman who sued him claiming he drugged and sexually assaulted her at his Foothills home in 2015, court records show.
The civil lawsuit against UA pharmacy professor Jesse Lyle Bootman ended several weeks ago when a Pima County Superior Court judge approved a mutual agreement between the two parties to drop the matter.
Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
“All I can tell you is this case was settled to the satisfaction of my client and she is very happy,” said Tucson attorney William G. Walker, who represented the plaintiff.
Bootman’s attorney, Jonathan M. Saffer of Tucson, also declined to release details of the May 1 deal, saying only that “the matter has been resolved between the parties to their mutual satisfaction.”
Bootman, 68, had faced several felony sex crime charges in connection with the case. The charges were dropped last fall when a prosecutor cast doubt on the likelihood of obtaining a conviction.
A defendant who is not convicted in criminal court can still be liable for civil damages under the same set of facts because civil lawsuits use a lesser standard of evidence than criminal cases.
Bootman was removed in 2015 as dean of the UA College of Pharmacy, a post he held for more than 30 years, and was reassigned to a faculty position.
Since then, the school has paid him more than $250,000 a year to stay away from campus.
It was not immediately clear Friday how long the university intends to keep paying Bootman to stay home.
Bootman remains a licensed pharmacist in good standing, according to the Arizona State Board of Pharmacy.
