Los Angeles agrees with 4 billion dollars to resolve thousands of requests for sexual abuse | Los Angeles

The county of Los Angeles has reached an agreement of $ 4 billion to resolve almost 7,000 requests for sexual abuse in child structures since 1959, the officials said on Friday.

The agreement, which still requires approval by the Council of Los Angeles County Supervisors, would be the greatest of its kind and has long -lasting financial effects for the county, the officials said.

“On behalf of the County, I apologize to all my hearts for all those who have been damaged by these reprovable acts,” Davenport, CEO of County, said Fesia, in a note.

The agreement would have resolved the causes understood by thousands of people who claimed to have been mistreated and abused sexually in entrusting and structures for child detention in the county of Los Angeles. The complaints were able to sue because of a California The law that entered into force in 2020 and suspended the statute of limitations for victims of child sexual abuse to bring cases for three years.

Many of the statements involved the Maclaren Children’s Center, which was closed in 2003. The structure, which was to be a safe space for children waiting for placement in adorable homes, was opened in 1961 and was supervised by supervised freedom officials until it was placed under the Department of County Children and Family Services in 1976.

A man said he was sexually abused by a doctor at the structure when he was eight, while another said he was attacked by a member of the male staff in a bathroom when he was five years old. The children were regularly put in insulation, drug addicted and retained in chairs at the structure, according to the documents of the court presented by the complaints.

“It is sweet and sour for the survivors, because nothing will never take away what has been done to them, and how bad their lives have been modified and how much they suffered,” said Adam Slater, one of the lawyers of the complaints. “However, it is hoped that the settlement gives them a certain extent of justice and provides them with a certain extent of closing.”

The agreement of the county of Los Angeles would have exceeded the settlement of Boy Scouts of America 2022 for $ 2.6 billion with over 80,000 men who said they had been harassed by children by the scout leaders and others. At the time, this was considered the greatest aggregate settlement of sexual abuse in the history of the United States.

Last year, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles agreed to pay $ 800 million to the victims of sexual abuse of the clergy, bringing total payment to over $ 1.5 billion.

The dissemination of the provisional payment comes at a time when the largest county of the nation – home of about 10 million residents – is facing an exacerbation of financial obligations for its annual budget of $ 49 billion. County officials fear that hundreds of millions of dollars for public services could vanish in the cuts of the Trump administration, while the County has seen additional costs from the historical fires of January as it also deals with a crisis of without ongoing.

Davenport recently said that County is facing a “large amount of uncertainty” with its budget: some agencies are widely financed by federal dollars.

The proposed agreement includes the creation of a Hotline at the level of the county for the reporting of accusations of sexual abuse on minors against employees of the county and the development of a system to accelerate the investigations, the County officials said.

“By balancing justice for the victims with a commitment for the reform, this resolution guarantees both the recognition of past wrong and a path to a safer and more responsible future,” said Patrick McNicholas, one of the lawyers of the complaints, in a note.

On Monday, the Council for County complaints will take into consideration the proposed regulation. If approved, it would be considered by the supervisors’ council on April 29.