Nicole Castro hugging Janet Ramirez as the Attorneys Ben Crump and Adam Slater take questions.
LOS ANGELES, Cal. – Renowned civil rights and personal injury attorney Ben Crump applauded a historic $4 billion settlement by Los Angeles County to resolve over 6,800 claims of sexual abuse that occurred in its juvenile justice centers and foster care shelters, dating back to 1959. Crump of Ben Crump Law and co-counsel Adam Slater of Slater Slater Schulman represent thousands of children who were victimized. Crump said the settlement, the largest of its kind in the nation, sends a message that, when the government steps into the role of parent, it must protect those in its care. The settlement was approved today by the LA County Claims Board and the Board of Supervisors.
“When the government removes a child from their parents and places them in juvenile detention or foster care, it has a sacred responsibility to protect that child. Instead, for decades, MacLaren Hall operated as a house of horrors, where vulnerable children were serially drugged, assaulted, and silenced. The children who were abused in L.A. County care — in some cases, day after day, week after week, year after year — were harmed body and soul. They will carry the scars of that abuse for the rest of their lives. No amount of money can undo the trauma or return the childhoods that were stolen, but this agreement sends a powerful message that when a governmental body steps into the role of parent, they will be held accountable to protect.”
Slater, who co-led the settlement negotiations, said, “When our firm filed some of the earliest complaints three years ago, we knew the abuse they described was horrific, traumatic, and widespread, but we truly had no idea about the magnitude of Los Angeles’ institutional sexual abuse problem until we began investigating and other survivors came forward. Today’s resolution for approximately 7,000 people was made possible due to the bravery of the survivors, the perseverance of counsel, and the willingness of the County of Los Angeles to fully confront its problem head-on and help the generations of children it harmed find closure. 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. But sadly, the problems at youth facilities are not restricted to Los Angeles – other cities and states need to right these historic wrongs.”
