In unprecedented payout, L.A. County will settle sex abuse claims for $4 billion
Los Angeles County plans to pay $4 billion to settle nearly 7,000 claims of childhood sexual abuse that allegedly occurred inside its juvenile facilities and foster homes, dwarfing the largest sex abuse settlements in U.S. history.
The mammoth settlement, which still needs to be approved by both the county claims board and county supervisors, is a billion dollars more than what county officials had anticipated as the worst-case scenario to resolve a flurry of lawsuits — and far more than other organizations notorious for allowing unchecked sex abuse have paid victims.
The Boy Scouts of America, by comparison, agreed to pay $2.46 billion. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has paid out about $1.5 billion for alleged abuse at the hands of Catholic priests. Victims of USC gynecologist George Tyndall got $1.1 billion. Michigan State University paid $500 million to victims of team doctor Larry Nassar.
The unprecedented settlement stems from AB 218, a 2020 state law that gave victims of childhood sexual abuse a new window to sue, even though the statute of limitations had expired.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-04-04/in-unprecedented-payout-l-a-county-settles-sex-abuse-claims-for-4-billion