Los Angeles County to settle sexual abuse claims for $4 billion in unprecedented payments

Los Angeles County plans to pay $4 billion to resolve nearly 7,000 claims of child sexual abuse allegedly occurring within its juvenile facilities and foster homes dwarf the largest sexual abuse settlement in U.S. history.

Mammoth settlement still needs approval from the county Claims Committee County supervisors have a billion dollars more than county officials expected As the worst case scenario to resolve a series of lawsuits – far more than other organizations to allow unrestricted sexual abuse to pay victims.

By contrast, the Boy Scouts of the United States Agree to pay $2.46 billion. this Archdiocese of Los Angeles About $1.5 billion has been paid for allegedly suffering abuse at the hands of Catholic priests. The victim of USC gynecologist George Tyndall gets it $1.1 billion. Michigan State University paid $500 million Give to the victims of team doctor Larry Nassar.

An unprecedented settlement comes from AB 218, A Laws of 2020 This gives victims of sexual abuse during childhood a new window of prosecution, even if the restrictive regulations have expired.

Many California counties are responsible for caring for children in foster homes and juvenile halls, and their lawsuits are elevated. It was a flood for Los Angeles County, but it has not stopped.

Thousands of men and women Stand up and say they were harassed or raped by probation officials while incarcerated in the county’s sprawling network of teenagers’ halls and camps decades ago.

In the now broken McLaren Children’s Centerthe plaintiff’s lawyer compared to the “Home of Terror” and the county-run house of Foster Children. A report found that the facility has not conducted criminal background checks on its employees for decades.

To sum up, thousands of lawsuits involved alleged abuse from the 1980s to the 2000s, depicting a photo of the government that failed to intervene as its facilities became hunting grounds for predators, who had enormous power over their detention facilities.

“On behalf of the county, I am wholeheartedly apologizing to all those who have been hurt by these reprehensible acts,” Los Angeles County CEO Fesia Davenport said in a statement.

She said the county has worked hard to combat sexual abuse by minors in recent years. Improvements touted by the county include strengthening scrutiny for foster parents and probation personnel and ending the use of collective homes such as McLaren Children’s Center.

bench Make headlines in 2023 When she estimated at a public budget hearing that the county could be liable for about 3,000 sexual abuse claims of $1.6 billion to $3 billion.

Her estimates were shocked and suspicious of the county’s experienced lawyers, who said it would blow any previous payment for sexual abuse from the water.

Since then, thousands of victims have been prosecuted, with more victims appearing every month. In addition to creating a three-year window for the victim, the window is At the end of 2023new state laws allow plaintiffs to file lawsuits if they are over 40 or have recently discovered the abuse they suffered as children.

The county said the $4 billion settlement covers the most but not all of childhood sexual abuse lawsuits. According to the county, some lawyers are reluctant to participate in the “global mediation process” and are negotiating with the plaintiffs in these circumstances.

Patrick McNicholas’s law firm, which represents 1,200 plaintiffs, said he was careful during the settlement discussion to reach a number that would bring some justice to thousands of victims without undermining the county’s social safety net. He believes the government can stay solvency with $4 billion in spending – but that is still the biggest salary he’s ever heard of.

“It’s a historic solution,” he said, noting that he couldn’t find a bigger solution to sexual abuse anywhere in the world. “It recognizes the horrible harm it has been done.”

The $4 billion expenditure will deal a huge blow to a county that has entered. Turbulent financial waters, Thanks to the threat of Trump’s White House cuts money and the cost of recovering from the devastating Palisade and Eton wildfires. Davenport warns the county governmentThere is a budget of about $49 billion, and unless the recruitment is frozen, it may face a “fiscal crisis.”

County officials said the money would come from running out of rainy days funds in the county, cutting department budgets and taking out bonds. The county is expected to ow hundreds of millions of dollars in interest on these bonds, which must be paid off by 2051.

The county said it would pay settlements between January 2026 and January 30, 2030, providing billions of dollars to “independent allocators” who will decide how to allocate it to about 6,800 plaintiffs.

County staff accused of being abused in the lawsuit rarely have criminal proceedings. The probation department presented evidence against two staff members Thomas Jackson and Altowis Abner to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office in December 2023. The status of these cases has not yet been immediately available.

Some employees who have been accused of being the most prolific abuser were paid in the county until recently. Jackson Resigning from the Ministry of Probation in the fall of 2023 ended a 33-year career, during which at least 20 women accused him of sexual abuse as a girl.