Woman Reaches Tentative $325K Accord With LAUSD

LOS ANGELES, CA — A 57-year-old woman has reached a tentative settlement of more than $300,000 with Los Angeles Unified over allegations that she was molested by an elementary school psychologist in 1978-79.

Identified only as L.M., the plaintiff alleged in her Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit that the administration at Warner Elementary School in West Los Angeles negligently supervised her. The $325,000 accord was reached during the continuation of a mandatory settlement conference with Judge Upinder Kalra on Friday that began on Oct. 12.

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The resolution is contingent on approval by the LAUSD claims board. A jury impaneled Thursday heard testimony by L.M., but was excused by the judge Friday in the wake of the settlement.

The LAUSD denied that school employees were negligent in their supervision of the plaintiff and maintained they did not know about the psychologist's alleged sexual misconduct. But in her lawsuit, L.M. said the psychologist repeatedly removed her from class and walked her across campus to an isolated office when she was 9 and 10 years old.

The psychologist allegedly locked the door, closed the blinds, used food and drinks to gain her trust, abused her during sessions, threatened that L.M. and her sister would be taken from their mother if she told about it and then physically restrained her hard enough to leave visible bruises.

In deposition testimony, L.M. said she was tired of the alleged sexual abuses after a fourth experience with the psychologist's misconduct.

"I didn't want none of that stuff to happen to me anymore and I wanted to leave," L.M. said. "And I was trying to leave because I was tired of it and he grabbed me and he was holding onto me so tight and so hard that he bruised me and he hurt me so bad."

The plaintiff's attorneys' court papers also stated that L.M. experienced racial harassment by other students. In the fifth grade, L.M., who is Black, began participating in the district's desegregation busing program and moved to Warner Avenue Elementary School.

L.M. testified that she was miserable at Warner School because children called her names because she was Black and because Warner was "not a Black school," according to her attorneys' court papers.

L.M. also testified that she was sent to the front office after fighting a child who called her a harsh racial slur, the plaintiff's lawyers further stated.