The University paid $50,000 of the $435,000 settlement reached Tuesday in its case against former faculty member and coastal researcher Ivor van Heerden, according to Michael DiResto, assistant commissioner for policy and communications in the Louisiana Division of Administration and the state Office of Risk Management.

Van Heerden’s lawsuit against the University charged the wrongful termination of his non-tenured position by the University in 2009 after he blamed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ work on the New Orleans levees for flooding in 80 percent of the city following Hurricane Katrina.

The remaining $385,000 of the settlement will be paid by the ORM’s Self-Insurance Fund, DiResto said in an email.