Los Angeles County officials announced the county has reached a $4 billion tentative settlement covering more than 6,800 sexual abuse claims, some dating as far back as the 1950s, according to a statement from the county released Friday morning.
The financial settlement would be the most expensive in county history and will impact budgets for years if not decades, to come, the statement said.
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The mammoth settlement can proceed after approval by L.A. County Claims Board on Monday. It must then receive approval by the full Board of Supervisors and is scheduled for a vote of the board on April 29.
The agreement would resolve most claims filed against the county from the Child Victims Act claims under Assembly Bill 218. That initiative waived the statute of limitations on sexual abuse cases and and created a three-year window to allow victims of childhood sexual abuse to present their allegations.
An independent team of allocation experts would review all the cases, the county said.
Most of the claims date from the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s and stem from allegations of abuse at county Probation Department facilities and at the MacLaren Children’s Center in El Monte. That facility was permanently closed in 2003 and is being turned into affordable housing, a medical clinic and a park. Demolition of the buildings that were MacLaren Hall is scheduled to begin in May.
“On behalf of the county, I apologize wholeheartedly to everyone who was harmed by these reprehensible acts,” county Chief Executive Officer Fesia Davenport said. “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.”
The now-closed facility in El Monte, also known as MacLaren Hall, was operated by the county as an emergency shelter placement facility from 1961 to 2003. Children removed from their homes were temporarily housed there while awaiting placement with a foster family.
About 4,000 children were housed in the facility operated by the county’s Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) before MacLaren Hall closed in 2003. The facility has been the subject of numerous lawsuits for sexual abuse of children housed by the county. Often, these were children removed from their homes where they were subject to abuse, only to be victims of abuse while in the care of L.A. County.
The county was sued by the American Civil Liberties Union for sexual abuse and neglect in 2002 and since then numerous individual cases have been filed in the courts.
In December 2022, the law firms McNicholas & McNicholas and Becker Law Group filed a complaint against the county on behalf of 1,200 anonymous plaintiffs. Attorneys in a statement released on Friday said their clients “were mistreated, tortured and sexually abused while housed at Los Angeles County juvenile probation halls and camps.”
Their complaint also alleges “county staff used their positions of trust and authority to sexually abuse minors in their care, often threatening to add more time to their detention if they did not comply.” The plaintiffs’ allegations date back to the 1960s, according to the two law firms.
“This landmark settlement represents restorative justice for victims. Restorative justice is a societal recognition that a horrible wrong has been committed and compensation is justified,” co-lead attorney Patrick McNicholas said in a statement released on Friday, April 4.
McNicholas’s statement went on to say: “It stands as a testament to the resilience of survivors, the importance of holding institutions accountable and the power of collaboration in driving meaningful change. 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.”
Attorneys representing many of the claimants also commented on other aspects of the seismic settlement of the cases with the county.
They said it will also put safeguards in place to prevent future failures of the county’s care system for children. It sets in place a five-year distribution plan that includes structured payouts with oversight to manage financial exposure while prioritizing victim compensation.
Plaintiffs’ attorneys said the challenge in reaching this unprecedented settlement was finding a way to structure the payout so it would not lead the county into bankruptcy.
“By structuring the settlement payouts over five years, Los Angeles County has ensured that justice is served in a way that remains fiscally responsible,” co-lead plaintiffs’ attorney Todd Becker said in a statement. “This approach provides survivors with the compensation they deserve while allowing the county to maintain control, manage its financial exposure and meet clear benchmarks along a well-defined timeline. The settlement also includes critical accountability measures, such as enhanced staff training and stronger oversight, to prevent such failures in the future, reinforcing the county’s commitment to meaningful reform.”
County officials said numerous operational changes have been made in recent years to address the issue of sexual abuse in probation facilities, and others are being developed. In a statement released Friday, the county supervisors said they will ensure reforms are enforced and if necessary, bring those who may have committed crimes to justice.
“We hope that this settlement, once approved, can bring some measure of healing to those who experienced abuse and help them in rebuilding their lives,” the supervisors stated in a release.
However, serious problems have continued at county probation facilities long past the closure of MacLaren Hall and beyond the filing of sexual abuse cases.
In March, unsealed indictments revealed charges against 30 county Probation Department employees for allowing — and even encouraging — 69 fights, including “gladiator”-style fight clubs involving multiple youth, at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall.
The charges included 69 counts of child abuse, one count of conspiracy to commit a crime and one count of battery from “gladiator fights” that occurred from June to December 2023, involving 143 victims ranging in age from 12 to 18, according to the California Department of Justice (DOJ).
The state DOJ said many officers oversaw the fights, and some stood by laughing and even shook hands with the attackers.
“Part of the problem is that (lawsuit settlements) are presented as a thing of the past. But this is an ongoing issue. There is still — at the very least — physical abuse being inflicted on young people at the hands of the Probation Department,” said Milinda Kakani, director of Youth Justice at the Children’s Defense Fund, after hearing about the settlements.
The county Probation Department did not respond to inquiries.
Dr. Astrid Heppenstall Heger, a pediatrician with expertise in child abuse and the founder and executive director of the Violence Intervention Program at Los Angeles General Medical Center, a county hospital, said the settlement will put a spotlight on sexual abuse issues but won’t end the suffering of survivors.
“These kids that were there and abused, they had been detained, away from family. So they were ultimately vulnerable and had no voice. Throwing money at it will not take away the trauma,” said Heger, who emphasized a need for mental health services.
The county listed additional reform measures proposed by the county CEO’s Office and the county’s Risk Management team. These proposals — some requiring policy shifts and even legislation — include:
— Creating a countywide hotline for reporting child sexual abuse allegations against county employees.
— Developing a system for expedited investigations and independent review by outside experts.
— Enhancing the county’s zero tolerance policy to ensure that when allegations of child sexual abuse committed by an employee are substantiated, the county takes “immediate action to the fullest extent allowed by law, including but not limited to termination and referral to law enforcement.”
— Requiring county departments to provide notice to new employees and applicants of the Zero Tolerance policy and intent to discipline to the fullest extent allowed by law.
SCNG Staff Writer Linh Tat and City News Service contributed to this report
