Latest news with #AdamSlater
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Yahoo
LA County pays out $4 billion to victims abused in juvenile facilities and foster homes - the largest payment in US history
Los Angeles County has approved a $4 billion settlement for nearly 7,000 claims of sexual abuse in juvenile facilities and foster homes throughout the area - the largest of its kind in U.S history. The county board of supervisors voted Tuesday to settle lawsuits by thousands of people who said they were sexually abused while in foster care and juvenile detention facilities, the Associated Press reports. Some cases date as far back as 1959. The settlement stems from a 2021 lawsuit against the county. The lawsuit followed a 2020 state law that waived the statute of limitations on childhood sexual abuse cases, allowing people to come forward within a three-year window. 'While no amount of money can erase the horrors that they endured, this agreement acknowledges the profound harm inflicted on thousands of children over the course of decades,' Adam Slater, an attorney for one of the plaintiffs, said Tuesday. The exact amount each individual gets will be determined and administered by an independent expert team, the board said. The county will likely be making payments until 2051. This marks the largest aggregate sexual abuse settlement in U.S. history, far surpassing the previous record-holder: the $2.6 billion settlement reached with the Boy Scouts of America. Many of the claims are tied to the MacLaren Children's Center, a shelter that permanently closed in 2003. Investigations into some of those claims are ongoing, and two cases may even be prosecuted by the district attorney. Several abuse survivors spoke at the board's public meeting Tuesday to recount their experiences, according to LAist. Scott Brougham, 64, said he 'went through hell' in a Los Angeles juvenile hall beginning when he was 14. 'If you want to know who the victims are, we're still here,' Brougham said. 'And there should be accountability.' 'We were children, we were not a number, we were not a line item on a budget report,' a man who identified himself as John Doe added. 'We were children.' L.A. County CEO Fesia Davenport has apologized to the survivors on behalf of the county. "On behalf of the County, I apologize wholeheartedly to everyone who was harmed by these reprehensible acts," Davenport said in a statement earlier this month. "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," she added.
The Independent
30-04-2025
- The Independent
L.A. County pays out $4 billion to victims abused in juvenile facilities and foster homes - the largest payment in U.S. history
Los Angeles County has approved a $4 billion settlement for nearly 7,000 claims of sexual abuse in juvenile facilities and foster homes throughout the area - the largest of its kind in U.S history. The county board of supervisors voted Tuesday to settle lawsuits by thousands of people who said they were sexually abused while in foster care and juvenile detention facilities, the Associated Press reports. Some cases date as far back as 1959. The settlement stems from a 2021 lawsuit against the county. The lawsuit followed a 2020 state law that waived the statute of limitations on childhood sexual abuse cases, allowing people to come forward within a three-year window. 'While no amount of money can erase the horrors that they endured, this agreement acknowledges the profound harm inflicted on thousands of children over the course of decades,' Adam Slater, an attorney for one of the plaintiffs, said Tuesday. The exact amount each individual gets will be determined and administered by an independent expert team, the board said. The county will likely be making payments until 2051. This marks the largest aggregate sexual abuse settlement in U.S. history, far surpassing the previous record-holder: the $2.6 billion settlement reached with the Boy Scouts of America. Many of the claims are tied to the MacLaren Children's Center, a shelter that permanently closed in 2003. Investigations into some of those claims are ongoing, and two cases may even be prosecuted by the district attorney. Several abuse survivors spoke at the board's public meeting Tuesday to recount their experiences, according to LAist. Scott Brougham, 64, said he 'went through hell' in a Los Angeles juvenile hall beginning when he was 14. 'If you want to know who the victims are, we're still here,' Brougham said. 'And there should be accountability.' 'We were children, we were not a number, we were not a line item on a budget report,' a man who identified himself as John Doe added. 'We were children.' L.A. County CEO Fesia Davenport has apologized to the survivors on behalf of the county. "On behalf of the County, I apologize wholeheartedly to everyone who was harmed by these reprehensible acts," Davenport said in a statement earlier this month. "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," she added.
The Guardian
04-04-2025
- The Guardian
Los Angeles agrees $4bn deal to settle thousands of sexual abuse claims
Los Angeles county has reached a $4bn agreement to settle nearly 7,000 claims of sexual abuse in juvenile facilities since 1959, officials said Friday. The agreement, which still needs approval from the Los Angeles county board of supervisors, would be the largest of its kind and have long-lasting financial effects for the county, officials said. 'On behalf of the county, I apologize wholeheartedly to everyone who was harmed by these reprehensible acts,' Fesia Davenport, the county's chief executive, said in a statement. The agreement would settle lawsuits filed by thousands of people who alleged they were mistreated and sexually abused in foster care and juvenile detention facilities in Los Angeles county. The plaintiffs were able to sue because of a California law that took effect in 2020 and suspended the statute of limitations for childhood sex abuse victims to bring cases for three years. Many of the claims involved the MacLaren children's center, which was closed in 2003. The facility, which was intended to be a safe space for children awaiting placement in foster homes, opened in 1961 and was overseen by probation officials until it was placed under the county's department of children and family services in 1976. One man said he was sexually abused by a physician at the facility when he was eight years old, while another said he was assaulted by a male staff member in a bathroom when he was five. Children were routinely placed in solitary confinement, drugged and restrained in chairs at the facility, according to court papers filed by plaintiffs. 'It is bittersweet for the survivors, because nothing is ever going to take away what was done to them, and how badly their lives were altered and how much they have suffered,' said Adam Slater, one of the plaintiffs' attorneys. 'However, the settlement hopefully gives them some measure of justice and provides them with some measure of closure.' The agreement by Los Angeles county would surpass the Boy Scouts of America's 2022 settlement for $2.6bn with more than 80,000 men who said they were molested as children by Scout leaders and others. At the time, that was considered the largest aggregate sexual abuse settlement in US history. Last year, the archdiocese of Los Angeles agreed to pay $800m to victims of clergy sexual abuse, bringing the total payout to more than $1.5bn. Disclosure of the tentative payout comes at a time when the nation's largest county – home to about 10 million residents – is facing a tightening bind of financial obligations on its $49bn annual budget. County officials fear hundreds of millions of dollars for public services could vanish in Trump administration cutbacks, while the county has seen additional costs from January's historic wildfires as it also deals with an ongoing homeless crisis. Davenport recently said the county is facing a 'large amount of uncertainty' with its budget – some agencies are largely funded by federal dollars. The proposed agreement includes creating a countywide hotline for reporting child sexual abuse allegations against county employees and developing a system to expedite investigations, county officials 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,' Patrick McNicholas, one of the plaintiffs' attorneys, said in a statement. The county's claims board will consider the proposed settlement on Monday. If approved, it would be considered by the board of supervisors on 29 April.
CBS News
28-03-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Maryland bill aims to limit settlement money for victims of abuse in juvenile detention center
A new Maryland bill aims to limit settlement money for victims of abuse in juvenile detention facilities. At a House Judiciary hearing, fueled with passion on all sides, state lawmakers debated ways to strike a balance between properly compensating victims of alleged childhood sexual abuse in the Maryland Juvenile Justice System without bankrupting the state. In 2023, the Child Victims Act, which removed the statute of limitations and allowed victims to receive up to $890,000 per occurrence of abuse, was made a law/. Since then, 4,500 victims have filed claims, potentially putting the state on the hook for billions of dollars. Co-council Adam Slater says there is only one proper solution. "This bill is unacceptable and the government of Maryland must sit down with the survivors and come up with a mutually agreeable and acceptable solution, not one imposed on them," Slater said. The amendments still need to pass the Maryland House and Senate and be signed by Gov. Wes Moore before the end of the session on April 7. If passed, these amendments would take effect on October 1, 2025. Democratic Delegate CT Wilson, a victim of childhood sexual abuse, introduced amendments to House Bill 1378, which would lower the payout cap for each claimant to $400,000. It would also require an alternative dispute resolution process to promise transparency in these payouts. "I wanted to make sure that whatever we do today, we don't so irreparably damage our state, that we must go to bankruptcy," Wilson said. "Because while the victims do need an opportunity to speak and they do need to come up in financial support, billions and billions of dollars is not what we can afford to do." Opponents, including national civil rights attorney Ben Crump, say these amendments revictimize those who were sexually abused. "That's not equal justice, that's a shame, before God to tell that person who has lived with this all their life that you don't have their day in court, and by the way, you can only get up to $400,000," Crump said. Antoine Harris, who is one of the alleged victims, said he was sexually abused during his childhood at the hands of the state. He also said he was conceived after his mother was allegedly raped at 17 years old by a speech therapist at the Montrose juvenile training facility Montrose. "I believe that we don't have to pay everybody at once; it can be spread out over time," Harris said. "This has been many years that we've been waiting for justice. So, to expect the state to pay it out all at once, that's not what I think is necessarily appropriate. The state is in a financial crisis, so the state can take time to pay us." On March 19, the alleged victims of sexual abuse in Maryland juvenile detention facilities rallied near Baltimore's City Hall, calling for the state to be held accountable. Alleged victims shared their stories of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse at the hands of staff within the juvenile justice system. "How many more survivors need to come forward before the state finally takes responsibility? How many more children have to suffer before a change is made?" an alleged victim said. A statement from the Department of Juvenile Services reads, "DJS takes allegations of sexual abuse of children in our care with utmost seriousness…. DJS notes that all the claims brought under the Maryland Child Victims Act involve allegations from many decades ago. Beyond that, DJS will not comment on this pending litigation." After the Child Victims Act became a law, hundreds of lawsuits were filed over sexual abuse claims against the Archdiocese of Baltimore, which spanned nearly 80 years. In April 2023, the Maryland Attorney General's Office released a 450-page report that identified 156 priests, deacons, Catholic teachers and seminarians within the Archdiocese accused of abusing more than 600 victims. The incidents detailed in the report date back to the 1940s. "The state is not above the law," said Jerry Block, a lawyer for sexual abuse survivors. "The state is just as accountable as the Catholic church or any other institution that perpetrated sexual abuse." Recently, more than a dozen former students at McDonogh School, a Baltimore County private school, came forward in a new complaint, alleging they were sexually abused. The alleged victims claim to have suffered sexual abuse by former dean Alvin Levy, former Spanish teacher Robert Creed, and two more faculty members while attending the school between the 1960s and 1980s. WJZ previously highlighted one of four lawsuits against McDonogh , claiming the school was aware of the abuse and failed to protect students. The lawsuit details the former student's account of being sexually assaulted several times by former dean Levy when he was 10 years old.
