Los Angeles County finally pays $828 million in sex abuse settlements, concerns loom

Los Angeles County supervisors unanimously approved an $828 million settlement for child sex abuse victims, finalizing the deal amid questions about the legality of some claims included in a separate multibillion-dollar award they agreed to this spring.

The settlement approved Tuesday brings the county’s spending on sex abuse lawsuits this year to nearly $5 billion, much of it from a $4 billion agreement reached in April to resolve thousands of claims from people who were abused decades ago in county-run juvenile detention centers and foster homes.

The latest settlement involves similar claims brought by 414 clients of three law firms who chose to negotiate separately from the other firms. The $4 billion settlement initially covered about 6,800 claims but has ballooned to more than 11,000.

The larger settlement came under scrutiny after The Times found nine people who said they were indicted for bribes. Four people said they were told the claims were fabricated. All cases were brought by the Downtown LA Law Group, which represented more than 2,700 clients in the first settlement.

The company denied paying clients legal fees and said it had “systems in place to help eliminate false or exaggerated claims.” The company this month asked the court to dismiss three claims from alleged defrauding plaintiffs.

The settlement approved Tuesday involves only the cases of Arias Sanguinetti Wang & Team, Manly, Stewart & Finaldi and Panish Shea Ravipudi, and not the DTLA case. But the company remained in the spotlight on Tuesday as regulators pressured its top lawyer to review its approach to the lawsuit.

“What were we doing before this article?” Superintendent Kathryn Barger said, citing a Times report from earlier this month.

County Counsel Dawyn Harrison explained that the county is in a difficult position. She said many plaintiffs’ attorneys don’t want the county to interview their clients. A judge has temporarily paused the investigation, leaving the county with little information about the identities of thousands of people suing.

Harrison said Tuesday that DTLA cases will now be required to undergo a “whole new level of review,” in addition to the standard review already conducted by retired Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Louis Meisinger. In addition to having new retired high court judge After reviewing all cases, DTLA must provide the county with plaintiff information obtained through “recruiters or vendors,” she said.

“DTLA must find out the identity of every recruiter it uses, a list of every plaintiff brought by each recruiter, information about any funds that changed hands, and a sworn statement from each recruiter describing what was done, what was said and any payments made,” Harrison said.

This is an unusual request.

california law Prohibits a practice known as capping in which non-lawyers directly solicit or induce clients to sign up for litigation with law firms.

DTLA denied any of its clients had received prosecution fees and said the company wanted justice for “real victims” of sexual abuse.

“If we become aware that anyone associated with us, in any capacity, has done something like this, we will immediately terminate our relationship with them,” the company said.

The lawsuit frenzy was kicked off by a now-controversial bill, AB 218, which changed the statute of limitations for sexual abuse victims and created a new window for prosecution. The county, which is responsible for the safety of children in juvenile jails and foster care facilities, has received more than 12,000 claims since the law took effect in 2020, and the number is growing..

Harrison said the fraud claims now emerging in these cases are the fault of “unmanageable laws,” not the county’s review process.

“AB 218 removes these guardrails and allows claims that go back decades without anyone being able to conduct meaningful review,” she said.

Criticism of the law has grown louder from the county’s attorneys and politicians, who say it leaves them facing a flood of undocumented claims from decades ago. Supervisor Hilda Solis said she feels the county has become a “guinea pig” for the bill.

Joe Nicchitta, the county’s acting chief executive, estimated that $1 billion to $2 billion of county taxpayer money would go to attorneys in the settlement.

“The law had some very noble intentions, but it has been… I just want to speak my mind and have been hijacked by the plaintiffs’ attorneys,” he said. “They do all the scrutiny, they do all the intake, they do extensive advertising. They have an incentive to bring as many cases as possible.”

Nicita said he’s heard rumors that venture capitalists are snooping around Sacramento to see “if we have enough cash to pay for another settlement so they can fund a law firm to do another round of settlements against us.”

“It’s clear to me that the system is broken,” he said.

Courtney Thom, the lead attorney in the Manley, Stewart and Finnerty cases, said she believes the county is blaming its own attorneys’ failures on the new state law.

“Blaming AB 218 and saying that’s what caused the fraud is just a pathetic attempt to pass the buck,” Thom said. “Our company has been saying for two years that we are concerned about fraud.”

Mike Arias, a partner at Arias Sanguinetti Wang & Team who represented clients in the latest settlement, said the three companies involved stopped adding clients more than a year ago.

“That’s a big difference,” Arias said. “We said at the time that the number of plaintiffs was not going to change. Ethically, my view is who are we representing and who are we negotiating for.”

Arias said funding for the second settlement will be made by retired Orange County Superior Court Judge Gail Andler, who oversees sexual abuse litigation. He said the potential payout would be between $750,000 and $3.25 million.

Victims say the money represents a small measure of justice for the abuse they suffered while in county custody — with few criminal prosecutions.

One man involved in the settlement and who requested anonymity said he had no idea what happened to his probation officer, who he alleges raped him when he was about 16 years old while he was sleeping in his cell at the Barry J. Niedorf Juvenile Prison and given sleeping pills.

“I had no control over that place,” said the now 34-year-old man. “I’ve never felt the same in my body since.”

The county has launched an “AB 218 Fraud Hotline” where whistleblowers can report misconduct related to numerous sexual abuse allegations.

(Rebecca Ellis/Los Angeles Times)

The county recently launched the “AB 218 Fraud Hotline,” where whistleblowers can report misconduct related to a large number of claims. The county said it also plans to launch a hotline for victims to safely report allegations of sexual abuse at its facilities.

A banner now hanging on the county’s website shows a hand handing out hundred-dollar bills and reads: “It is unlawful for any person to make, pay, or accept a false allegation of child sexual abuse.”

The county also launched website The bill requires people to report whether they were given the cash needed to sue, which law firms were involved and whether they received coaching, among other issues.

Supervisor Holly Mitchell, whose district includes the South Central Office of Social Services, has seven people who told The Times they were paid to prosecute. She said she would like to see the hotline advertised as aggressively as plaintiffs’ attorneys advertise their cases.

“You can’t turn on a city radio station and not hear commercials about these cases,” Mitchell said. “I certainly hope that whatever we use, when we talk about our outreach, we put the effort into it.”