LA supervisor wants investigation into county's sexual abuse settlement

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved on Tuesday a motion by Chair Kathryn Barger calling for an investigation into alleged fraudulent claims in the county's $4 billion juvenile detention abuse settlement, urging county counsel to refer the matter to the State Bar.

They also want the county counsel to urge review of AB 218, the state law that reopened the window for filing old sexual abuse claims, legislation that several cities, counties and Roman Catholic archdioceses have blamed for huge payout demands on decades-old claims that cannot be fully verified or denied. The law called for destruction of old juvenile records that could have helped with verification, one supervisor said at Tuesday's meeting

"It is appalling to consider that dishonest legal representatives would exploit reforms that were intended to deliver justice to survivors of abuse and diminish legitimate cases, further revictimizing the most vulnerable," Barger's motion read. "As stewards of taxpayer dollars, we have a duty to protect the integrity of the system and ensure that any legal settlements are truly serving those who were victimized."

As the board members strongly condemned any attorneys who exploit the settlement for profit, and passed Barger's motion, they also pointed to insufficiencies in the bill that they said made vetting legitimate claims from fake ones difficult.

At Tuesday's meeting, Barger further emphasized the fiscal impacts to the county from AB 218, which was introduced by then-Democratic Assembly Member Lorena Gonzalez in January 2019 and signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom the following October.

Barger noted that, according to a Los Angeles Times report last week, attorney fees in the settlement are expected to amount to $1.5 billion. The Times also reported interviews with many plaintiffs it said were enticed by DTLA Law Group to file false claims that they were abused as children in county facilities. The Times reported that the settlement the county agreed to included provisions such as $50,000 payments to plaintiffs who cannot prove their claims.

DTLA Law Group has not responded to the allegations despite repeated phone calls.

"The county budget is facing significant threats and challenges, none more so than the looming threat of an unchecked and uncapped litigation risk of this legislation," Barger said. "The Gonzalez legislation continues to put a hardship on this county.

"I'm calling it what it is. We are facing the threat of additional billions of dollars in settlements," she continued. "This has forced us into a difficult position of cutting off vital services to our communities."

Barger expressed a hope to "clean up" AB 218. "Maybe it's time for us all to get together and figure out how we clean up the mess the Gonzalez bill put into play," she said.

Barger is the only Republican on the five-member board. But the other supervisors joined her in criticizing aspects of the settlement agreement they had approved, as well as the Democratic-majority Legislature's bill they blamed for creating huge liabilities for counties and cities.

Roughly 6,800 people have filed claims going back to the 1980s over alleged abuse at MacLaren Hall, a county facility that housed children in foster care from 1961 until it closed in 2003. The Board of Supervisors agreed earlier this year to pay $4 billion to settle those claims, without any investigation, according to the Times report.

"Unfortunately, current state law, while well intentioned, created these challenges," Supervisor Lindsey P. Horvath said. "It required destruction of juvenile records, extended the claim window, but failed to include protection from false or unverified claims, especially because history victimizes those who were intended to receive justice and support.

"The county now faces an impossible choice: Allow well-documented claims to proceed to trial, which risks massive judgments, or settle on the court's accelerated timeline before vetting to contain costs, but risk rewarding false claims," Horvath continued.

Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell specifically called out the alleged practice of soliciting fake claims outside of the county benefits office in south Los Angeles, as the Times reported.

"At the risk of being accused as playing the race card, as I am weekly by a member of the public, it is not lost on me that they were south LA DPS offices that were targeted," Mitchell said. "I think that was not by accident."

"The oddity that those people are being targeted while trying to get help from departments that we're having to reduce their budgets as a result of the AB 218 settlement is ironically painful," she added.

Mitchell further called for the county to "seek appropriate reprieve" from the bill.

"AB 218 is impacting municipalities across the board, and every resident of the state of California can't afford for local government to go bankrupt, as we've seen in other counties," she said.

Supervisor Hilda L. Solis similarly aimed her remarks at the state Legislature.

"When you see people taking advantage of our community and the county for that matter -- we are not an ATM machine. We are the safety net," Solis said. "I think it behooves us to help to better educate our legislators. Maybe they need to come and see exactly what the implications are."

Meanwhile, Supervisor Janice Hahn announced that she would introduce her own motion asking the Department of Social Services to prevent solicitation at county benefits offices.

"Maybe our director can look at ideas to bring people inside faster, or maybe we have a safe zone, a buffer zone, where we don't allow vendors or people who are attempting to bribe them," Hahn said.