LA County approves $828 million child sexual abuse settlement
The Los Angeles Board of Supervisors unanimously approved an $828 million settlement for childhood sexual abuse victims, six months after paying $4 billion to settle a similar case.
The settlements stem from allegations that staff at county juvenile and foster care facilities sexually abused thousands of children, with some cases dating back to 1959. More than 11,000 victims were involved in both settlements, with the majority of claims happening in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.
Attorneys were able to file the claims decades after the alleged abuse following the implementation of Assembly Bill 218, which gave victims of childhood sexual abuse an increased amount of time to sue their abusers, even after the statute of limitations had expired.
In April, Patrick McNicholas, one of the attorneys for the victims, called the earlier $4 billion settlement "a societal recognition that a horrible wrong has been committed and compensation is justified."
"This landmark settlement represents restorative justice for victims," McNicholas said. "By balancing justice for the victims with a commitment to reform, this resolution ensures both acknowledgment of past wrongs and a pathway to a safer, more accountable future."
Chief Executive Officer Fesia Davenport cited the $4 billion settlement as one of the "mounting financial challenges" that led to $88.9 million worth of budget cuts.
"We are in uncharted territory with these simultaneous pressures on our budget," Davenport said in April. "Any of these alone would be daunting, but taken together these challenges—the wildfires, the AB 218 settlement, the threat of deep cuts in federal funding—are cause for great concern."
Following allegations that some plaintiffs may have made fraudulent claims, county officials said that every individual case from both settlements will be carefully reviewed.
"The system created by AB 218 is inherently vulnerable to fraud, but the county established fraud protections from the beginning of the settlement discussions and has now strengthened the review process to further ensure that money goes only to the true victims of abuse," Board of Supervisors Chair Kathryn Barger said in a statement. "Our settlements balance our obligation to compensate victims and treat their experiences with compassion with the need to put strong protections in place to protect taxpayers from fraud."
