The Los Angeles Unified School District and a former special needs student have settled a lawsuit in which the plaintiff alleged he was sexually abused and provided alcohol by a teacher’s aide whose job was to assist him getting to and from class during the 2018-19 school year, attorneys in the case told a judge Friday.
The plaintiff is identified only as John Doe in the Van Nuys Superior Court lawsuit filed in October 2020 against the district and Alex Salas. By the time of trial the causes of action were pared to negligent supervision and retention of Salas and negligent supervision of a minor. The plaintiff dropped Salas as a defendant on Jan. 6.
The parties were in the middle of jury selection when attorneys informed Judge Huey P. Cotton on Friday that the case was resolved. No terms were divulged and the judge dismissed the jurors.
In their court papers, attorneys for the school district argued that no district administrator or supervisor knew or should have known about Salas’ alleged abuse of Doe and the district “took all reasonable measures to prevent this type of conduct from occurring, including establishing, distributing and conducting training of all its staff to recognize, combat and report misconduct.”
The plaintiff, who was 18 years old when the suit was filed, is a former special needs student who attended Grant High School from 2017-20, the suit stated. During the 2018-2019 school year, the district assigned Salas to be a special education assistant for Doe, who was then 16, the suit stated.
Salas, who was in his 40s, rode on a school bus with Doe to and from school and was tasked with helping the plaintiff walk to and from the bus, the suit stated.
“Salas utilized his assignment as an assistant for plaintiff to begin grooming and conditioning plaintiff with the specific intent of manipulating plaintiff’s emotions and taking advantage of his young age so that he could ultimately sexually abuse him,” the suit alleged.
Salas began giving Doe extra attention, including touching him and asking the plaintiff to kiss him while they traveled on the bus, the suit states. At school, Salas asked Doe to have lunch with him, the suit stated.
Salas also began giving Doe rides in his personal vehicle, where at times he touched Doe on his upper thighs, according to the suit. Salas additionally drove Doe to get food and to the mall to buy the plaintiff gifts, the suit stated.
Salas also texted “flirtatious and sexually suggestive messages” to Doe, the suit stated. His alleged grooming and conditioning of Doe culminated in Salas taking Doe to a Burbank motel where he ostensibly was to help him with his homework in private, according to the suit.
But on each of the four trips to the motel, Salas provided beer and hard liquor, then sexually abused him, the plaintiff alleged.
Doe would not have been abused had the LAUSD properly monitored and supervised Salas, the suit stated.