In an unprecedented payment, La County will pay sexual abuse claims for $ 4 billion

Los Angeles County plans to pay 4 billion US dollars to pay almost 7,000 sexual abuse claims, which allegedly promoted institutions and houses in his youthful facilities and houses and put the greatest settlements for sex abuse in US history.

The mammoth settlement that still has to be approved by the district Damage attorney And County Supervisors are one billion dollars more than what district officials had expected As a worst case, to solve a flood of complaints-and far more than other organizations that are calmed down to allow unchecked sexual abuse.

The scouts of America, in comparison, in comparison, agreed to pay 2.46 billion US dollars. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has paid about 1.5 billion US dollars for alleged abuse by Catholic priests. Get victims of the USC cyclist George Tyndall 1.1 billion US dollars. The Michigan State University paid 500 million dollars To the victim of the team doctor Larry Nassar.

“This is the largest settlement of sex abuse in history,” said Adam Slater, a senior lawyer both in the settlements of La County and in Boy Scouts.

The unprecedented settlement resulted from the meeting calculation 218, a 2020 state law This gave the victims of sexual abuse of childhood a new window to sue, although the limitation period had expired.

Many California counties, which are responsible for the care of children in nursing homes and youth halls, saw an increase in complaints. For La County it was a deluge that has not yet stopped.

Thousands of Men and women to say that they had been molested or raped decades ago when they were imprisoned as children in the extensive network of the youth hall and camp of the district.

Thousands of other alleged sexual abuse in the now broken sexual abuse Maclaren Children’s CenterA house operated by County for foster children who compared the plaintiffs’ lawyers compared to a “House of Horrors”. A report showed that the facility was carried out for decades without criminal background reviews in its employees.

“When I heard the news, it felt like my heart had a door and she closed” Maclaren As an 8-year-old in the early 1960s. “I tried very hard to block this, and yet I am concerned with recurring nightmares.”

Both Ashbrook and her friend Shirley Bodkin (58), who submitted some of the earliest cases of 218 against La County, said that the hall where they spent part of their childhood was widespread with predatory staff.

“I’m totally shocked,” said Bodkin, who remembered that he was under drug, beaten and sexually abused. “I’ve been waiting for this result all the years.”

Together, the thousands of complaints, of which most of which contain alleged abuse from the 1980s to 2000s, paint a picture of a government that could not intervene because their facilities for predators became hunting reasons that made the children immense in their care.

“In the name of the district, I apologize for everyone who has been damaged by these reprehensible actions,” said Feia Davenport, Chief Executive Officer of La County.

She said that the county has worked in recent years to hold the sexual abuse of minors. The improvements advertised by the district include strengthening the review of foster parents and probation assistants and the use of group houses such as the MacaLaren Children’s Center.

Davenport made headlines in 2023 When she estimated in a public budget hearing that the district could consider $ 1.6 billion to 3 billion US dollars for the expected of around 3,000 gender claims of $ 3 billion.

Her estimate met with shock and a hint of skepticism from experienced lawyers who sued the district, who said that this would blow an earlier payment of sexual abuse from the water.

Since then, thousands of additional victims have sued, with more moving forward every month. In addition to the creation of a three -year window for victims, which was closed on In late 2023The new state law made the plaintiffs complain if they had been under the age of 40 or recently discovered the abuse they had suffered as children.

The district said that the 4-billion dollar settlement does not cover most of the complaints about sexual abuse in childhood. Some lawyers were not ready to take part in the “global mediation process”, and in these cases the negotiations are underway in these cases.

According to Courtney Thom, a partner of the office, a partner of the office, a partner of the law firm, has not comprises any of the 150 cases submitted by Manly, Stewart & Finali, one of the best -known law firms for sexual sexual abuse. The solution of these cases could cost the district more.

Patrick McNicholas, whose law firm represents 1,200 plaintiffs, said that during the settlement discussion, he was justice for the thousands of victims without banking, which serves as a social security network in the region. He argued that the government could remain solvent with a payment of $ 4 billion-and still it was the greatest payout for sex abuse that he ever heard of.

“This is a historical settlement,” he said. “It recognizes the terrible damage that has been done.”

Dominique Anderson, shown at the age of 11, is one of thousands of plaintiffs who have sued in the district’s youthful faculties. Anderson said that the head of her probation officer molested her in a motel room when she was around 13 years old.

(Dominique Anderson)

The payment of $ 4 billion is a big blow for one in the county in Turbulent financial waters, Thanks to the threat of financing cuts from the Trump White House and the costs for the recovery of the devastating palisades and Eaton forest fires. Davenport warned that the district GovernmentThe fact that a budget of around $ 49 billion has a “fiscal crisis” could be exposed to, unless the setting is frozen.

District officers said the money would result from the drainage of the district’s rainy fund and the intake of bonds. The district is expected to owe hundreds of millions of dollars to interest rates for these bonds, which have to be paid by 2051.

The district’s budget must also be accelerated, Davenport warned the department heads in an e -mail on Friday.

“It is unprecedented by all reports,” she wrote. “After recovering from the shock of the comparison amount and the effects on your budgets, we have to concentrate on work again.”

The district said that the money would pay out the money between January 2026 and January 30, 2030 and the “independent allocators”, who split up among the approximately 6,800 plaintiffs, specify the billions.

“We hope that this agreement, as soon as it has been approved, give those who have experienced abuse a certain degree of healing and can help them rebuild their lives,” wrote the board of directors, who will be approved later this month, wrote in a joint statement.

There were few criminal persecution of employees of the district who were accused of abuse in the lawsuits. The Public Prosecutor’s Office of the LA district presented the probation department against two employees, Thomas Jackson and Altovise Abner, in December 2023. The status of these cases was not immediately available.

Until recently, some of the employees who were accused of being the most productive abuse were on the district payment. Jackson In autumn 2023, resigned from the probation department and ended a 33-year career in which at least 20 women accused him of sexually abusing her as a girl.