Story updated at 1:20 p.m., Nov. 21, 2014
After a week of jury selection, a roughly $139 million settlement was announced Friday to resolve dozens of lawsuits against the Los Angeles Unified School District stemming from the abuse of students at Miramonte Elementary School.
Plaintiffs’ attorneys Luis Carrillo and John Manly said the district will pay $139.75 million to settle the cases involving 81 former Miramonte students and some parents. The LAUSD said the settlement amount is $139.25 million.
The attorneys said the settlement is believed to be the largest of its type involving a school district.
“Today there is some measure of justice for children who were victimized for more than 30 years by a school district that refused to protect the children,” Carrillo said. “… There is some justice for the children and these monies will go to pay for long-term therapy, because the emotional damage will last a lifetime.”
The district previously paid about $30 million to settle more than 60 other Miramonte abuse claims. District officials said the district had set up a fund to cover legal costs in the case, although it will likely seek reimbursement from its insurance carrier.
“Our goal from the outset of these appalling revelations has been to spare the Miramonte community the anguish of a protracted trial, while at the same time being mindful of the financial consequences stemming from settlements,” Superintendent Ramon Cortines said. “Given these circumstances, we believe we struck a balance between those objectives.”
Former Miramonte teacher Mark Berndt was sentenced in November 2013 to 25 years in prison after pleading no contest to 23 counts of lewd conduct with a child between 2005-10.
Sheriff’s officials said the investigation of Berndt began in 2010 when a film processor turned over more than 40 photographs of children in a classroom, with their eyes blindfolded and mouths covered in tape. Some of the pictures showed Berndt with his arm around the children or with his hand over their mouths, according to the Sheriff’s Department.
A sheriff’s sergeant said some of the photographs “depicted girls with what appeared to be a blue plastic spoon, filled with an unknown clear/white liquid substance, up to their mouths as if they were going to ingest the substance.” Some photos also showed children with a large roach on their faces, sheriff’s officials said.
Sheriff’s officials said detectives found a blue plastic spoon and an empty container in the trash in Berndt’s classroom. Both items tested positive for semen, and DNA testing matched it to Berndt, according to the Sheriff’s Department.
Attorneys for the students and their families contended the district was liable for Berndt’s actions, claiming LAUSD officials had known for years about his questionable behavior. One parent alleged that Berndt lowered his pants during a 1983 field trip at a museum.
The attorneys also claimed Berndt had been caught masturbating behind his desk in the 1990s and allegedly tried to touch a girl inappropriately while she was taking a test in 1994.
Jury selection in the trial of three of the lawsuits began Monday, with hundreds of prospective jurors being questioned about their ability to serve on a case that had been expected to last as long as three months. The settlement eliminates the need for any trials.
“Throughout this case, we have shared in the pain felt by these children, their families and the community,” Cortines said. “Each day, we are responsible for the safety of more than 600,000 students. There is a sacred trust put in us to protect the children we serve. While we know Mr. Berndt went to extreme lengths to hide hid conduct, we know that our job protecting students is never done.”
Dave Holmquist, general counsel for the LAUSD, said the district wanted to resolve the litigation without “potentially painful” trials.
“We know that these settlements will provide for the future needs of these students,” he said. “We are glad that this will help close this chapter for these families. We remain committed to helping them continue the process of healing.”
Manly said, however, that the district “fought us every step of the way” as the lawsuits worked their way toward trial.
“And I suppose you can say the lawyers were doing their job,” Manly said. “But in our community, should we have to expect that from the leaders of our schools?”
Plaintiffs’ attorney Brian Claypool said the emotional damage suffered by the children was so intense, that one girl told her counselor “she wasn’t sure she wanted to live anymore.”
“For 27 years, administration at LAUSD knew that Mark Berndt posed a risk of harm to children at Miramonte school,” he said.
“… The LAUSD finally, after a relentless David versus Goliath battle, stepped up today and they took care of these families and we thank them for it,” Claypool said. “But there is a third objective that all of the lawyers in the case have sought out to accomplish and that objective remains unaccomplished. That objective is for the LAUSD to take the lessons they have learned in the Miramonte child abuse scandal and use those lessons as a springboard to make fundamental, real, lasting change to safeguard children.”
Manly said the settlement money is not divided equally among the plaintiffs, but a retired judge will be appointed to review each case and apportion the funds.
—City News Service