South Bay School District Settles Sexual Abuse Lawsuit With Student

TORRANCE, CA — The El Segundo Unified School District has reached a settlement with a man who said he was sexually abused while he was a student in a middle school social studies class more than two decades ago, allegations the district strongly denied.

The plaintiff in the Torrance Superior Court lawsuit, identified only as John Doe 7091, alleged sexual battery and harassment, negligence and negligent supervision and retention. The case was resolved during a mandatory settlement conference Monday with the assistance of Judge Gary Tanaka.

No settlement terms were divulged, and it was no immediately clear if final approval is up to the Board of Education.

In their court papers, ESUSD attorneys stated that Doe 7091's story was as compelling as it was misleading. The lawyers said he maintained that he reported the alleged abuse to his sister and adoptive father, but that both testified in depositions to the contrary.

Doe 7091 also said his classmates and three other teachers witnessed the alleged inappropriate behavior, but the other students also contradicted him in their testimony, according to the district's lawyers' pleadings.

The only reason that Doe 7091 had contact with the teacher was because she was good friends with his mother and rented a unit in his family's triplex, and the teacher had an unblemished record with the district prior to Doe 7091's complaint, according to the ESUSD attorneys' court papers.

In his suit filed in July 2023, Doe 7091 contended that the ESUSD was responsible for the supervision of its employees, including the teacher, and assumed responsibility for the well-being of Doe 7091 and other minors in its care. Doe 7091 started eighth grade at El Segundo Middle School in 2000-01 and in the spring of 2001, he met one of two school social studies teachers while the plaintiff was attending school meetings in preparation for a school- sponsored trip to Washington, D.C., the suit stated.

Although Doe 7091 was not assigned to the female teacher's class, she "took an immediate interest in plaintiff during these meetings" and later began often corresponding with him through emails, the suit alleged.

The teacher "gained the trust and confidence of plaintiff by befriending him and making him feel special" and as her influence on Doe 7091 grew, she "began increasing her flirtatious conversations with plaintiff," the suit alleged.

"She would frequently tell him that he was the most mature of all the students at El Segundo Middle School and frequently complimented his intelligence," the suit stated. "She also began encouraging him to engage in more explicit sexual conversations."

The teacher also "consistently told plaintiff that it was important he never discuss the grooming or sexual assaults," the suit stated.

The teacher allegedly sexually abused Doe 7091 in her classroom, in her car and in her Hermosa Beach apartment, and wrote a love message in the plaintiff's yearbook at the end of the school year, according to the suit, which further stated that Doe 7091 eventually transferred to another school district because of the rumors surrounding him and the teacher, but she allegedly continued to sexually abuse him through the spring/summer of 2003.