Go Unlimited with Magzter GOLD
Get unlimited access to 10,000+ magazines, newspapers and Premium stories for just
Try GOLD - Free
County OKs another sex abuse payout even as questions surface
Los Angeles Times
|October 30, 2025
L.A. County supervisors have unanimously approved an $828-million settlement for alleged victims of childhood sexual abuse, finalizing the deal while questions mount over the legitimacy of some claims in a separate multibillion-dollar payout that they agreed to this spring.
GIRLS LINE UP before entering a dorm at Camp Scott, a county-run facility for juveniles, in 2015.
BARBARA DAVIDSON Los Angeles Times
The settlement approved Tuesday brings the county’s spending on sex abuse litigation this year to nearly $5 billion, with the bulk of that total coming from a $4-billion deal made in April to resolve thousands of claims filed by people who said they 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 opted to negotiate separately from the rest. The $4-billion settlement initially covered roughly 6,800 claims but has ballooned to more than 11,000.
The larger settlement has come under scrutiny after The Times found nine people who said they were paid to sue. Four said they were told to fabricate the claims. All had lawsuits filed by Downtown LA Law Group, which represents more than 2,700 clients in the first settlement.
The firm has denied paying clients to sue and said it has “systems in place to help weed out false or exaggerated allegations.” The firm has asked the court to dismiss three claims on behalf of allegedly fraudulent plaintiffs this month.
The settlement approved Tuesday involves cases only from Arias Sanguinetti Wang & Team, Manly, Stewart & Finaldi, and Panish Shea Ravipudi and has no cases from DTLA. But the firm nevertheless took center stage as the supervisors pressed their top attorney on how the lawsuits were vetted.
"What were we doing prior to this article?" said Supervisor Kathryn Barger, referencing The Times' reporting from this month.
The county was in a tough spot, county counsel Dawyn Harrison explained.
This story is from the October 30, 2025 edition of Los Angeles Times.
Subscribe to Magzter GOLD to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 10,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
MORE STORIES FROM Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The house, family are scarily good
Van Nuys clan goes big each Halloween to bring people together while frightening them
6 mins
October 30, 2025
Los Angeles Times
Pig kidney transplant lasts record 271 days in N.H. man
A New Hampshire man is resuming dialysis after living with a gene-edited pig kidney for a record 271 days, doctors said Monday. His experience is helping researchers in their quest for animal-to-human transplants.
1 min
October 30, 2025
Los Angeles Times
GOP’s war on food stamps has long, foul history
Just over a decade ago, when Congress was taking its periodic look at the food stamp program, House Republicans lined up with their legislative hatchets.
6 mins
October 30, 2025
Los Angeles Times
2 co-hosts cut in Paramount layoffs
About 100 employees of CBS News are being let go, including correspondents.
2 mins
October 30, 2025
Los Angeles Times
WNBA offers 30-day extension amid CBA talks
The WNBA offered a 30-day extension to players to continue negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement, two people familiar with the decision told the Associated Press on Tuesday night.
3 mins
October 30, 2025
Los Angeles Times
Stocks bounce around their records
Stocks bounced around their records Wednesday after the Federal Reserve made moves to boost the job market but also warned that more help isn’t guaranteed.
2 mins
October 30, 2025
Los Angeles Times
12 face charges after protests of raids
The cases mostly center on a series of clashes on a freeway overpass in June.
3 mins
October 30, 2025
Los Angeles Times
Militia reportedly kills hundreds at hospital in Sudan
Sudan’s paramilitary forces killed hundreds of people, including patients in a hospital, after seizing the city of El Fasher in the western Darfur region over the weekend, according to the United Nations, displaced residents and aid workers, who gave harrowing details of atrocities.
4 mins
October 30, 2025
Los Angeles Times
THE ARACHNID RENDEZVOUS
October is peak mating season for tarantulas in California. The hulking, furry males don't always come out alive.
3 mins
October 30, 2025
Los Angeles Times
Hulu + Live TV folded into Fubo
Disney’s 70% interest in channel creates the nation’s sixth-largest pay-T'V service.
1 mins
October 30, 2025
Listen
Translate
Change font size