On Friday, April 4, Los Angeles County reached a tentative settlement valued at $4B aimed at resolving 6,800 claims of sexual abuse that occurred at juvenile detention centers and foster homes run by the county. The settlement is the largest payout involving sexual abuse in history and will be paid over a period of years, in part to avoid driving LA County into insolvency. The financing will require annual payments totaling hundreds of millions of dollars through 2030 and substantial continuing annual payments through fiscal year 2050-51.
The incidents date back to 1959, with the majority occurring between the 1980s and the 2000s and were brought by victims who describe being mistreated and sexually assaulted by counselors, probation officials, and medical professionals at a number of Probation Department facilities, including the MacLaren Children’s Center foster care facility. Many of the claims were filed in the wake of the state of California passing California Assembly Bill 218 in 2020 which established a three year “lookback window” that afforded childhood sexual abuse victims an opportunity to sue even if the original statute of limitations had expired. The settlement will be reviewed by the Claims Board on April 7 and, if approved, will be sent for consideration to the full Board of Supervisors on April 29.
In response to the settlement, LA Chief Executive Office Fesia Davenport stated:
“On behalf of the County, I apologize wholeheartedly to everyone who was harmed by these reprehensible acts. The historic scope of this settlement makes clear that we are committed to helping the survivors recover and rebuild their lives—and to making and enforcing the systemic changes needed to keep young people safe.”
There are still outstanding claims arising out of abuse at other LA County juvenile facilities that were not included in the settlement and will be resolved separately. The 150 claimants represented by Manley, Stewart & Finaldi did not settle. Law firms representing settling plaintiffs include ACTS Law, Becker Law Group, Boucher LLP, McNicholas & McNicholas LLP and Slater Slater Schulman LLP.
