Additional $828 million to be paid to abuse victims

Los Angeles County is poised to pay out an additional $828 million to victims who say they were sexually abused in county facilities as children, months after agreeing to the largest sex abuse settlement in U.S. history.

- REBECCA ELLIS

THE L.A. COUNTY Board of Supervisors meets at the County Hall of Administration in September.

The award, posted on the county claims board agenda Friday, would resolve an additional 414 cases that were not included in the $4-billion sex abuse settlement approved this spring. Both the supervisors and the county claims board will need to vote on the payout before it is finalized.

It was not clear on Friday who would oversee the allocation of the new looming settlement or what the distribution and vetting process of the plaintiffs would be for those cases.

The record $4-billion settlement covers more than 11,000 people who say they were abused inside county-run juvenile facilities and foster homes as children. The individual payouts in that case will range from $100,000 to $3 million.

The newest payout would break down to an average of roughly $2 million per person. It involves cases from three prominent law firms: Manly, Stewart & Finaldi; Arias Sanguinetti Wang & Team; and Panish Shea Ravipudi.

The firms declined to comment on the potential settlement until the vote by the Board of Supervisors.

The flood of lawsuits began in 2020 after California passed a law extending the statute of limitations for survivors of childhood sexual abuse.

The three firms broke from the other attorneys suing the county during negotiations and declined to take part in the $4-billion settlement, arguing they could land a better deal for their clients on their own.