Irvine, California - Attorneys representing victims of convicted pedophile teachers Paul Chapel III and Robert Pimentel announced an $18.4 million dollar settlement on behalf of their clients. The settlement was part of a $25 million dollar settlement of child sex abuse claims approved by the Los Angeles Board of Education Yesterday.
Payments totaling $10 million will go to five former students of Robert Pimentel and payments totaling $8.4 million will go to four former students of Paul Chapel.
Chapel, a teacher at Telfair Elementary School in Pacoima received a 25-year prison term following his 2012 conviction for lewd acts with 13 children. Pimentel, a teacher at De La Torre Elementary School in Wilmington was sentenced to 12 years in prison for sexually abusing four girls.
In each of these cases, LAUSD knew about complaints and reports of past sexual misconduct by the teachers but continued to allow them to remain in the classroom with access to children.
The District has already paid $88 million in settlements to 30 students and their families at the two schools. But even these amounts were dwarfed by more than $200 million in payouts related to the sexual misconduct of Miramonte Elementary teacher Mark Berndt, who also went to prison.
John Manly, lead attorney in all of these cases said, "You would think that after paying more than 300 million dollars to settle cases of sexual abuse by teachers, the Los Angeles Board of Education would take serious steps to reform a culture which places the reputation of the District and its employees above the safety of the children in its care. Instead, they continue to ignore warning signs of sexual abuse, blame child victims for their abuse, and hide the crimes of perpetrators from law enforcement and the public. Sadly, the children most often victimized are those who live in the poorest areas of Los Angeles. LAUSD’s cover-up culture needs to change, or these children will never be protected from sexual abuse at school."
Manly, Stewart & Finaldi is the nation’s leading firm representing athletes in child sexual abuse cases against school districts, Universities, and Olympic Governing Bodies. They recently represented 180 alleged victims of former Olympic Team doctor Larry Nassar resulting in a $500 million-dollar settlement against Michigan State University. In 2018 the firm settled cases against the Torrance Unified School District for $31 million on behalf of alleged victims of former wrestling coach and convicted child molester Thomas Snider, against Los Angeles Unified School district for $8 million in cases involving former football coach and convicted child molester Jamie Jimenez and for $14 million in cases involving former Los Angeles Unified District employee Ronnie Lee Roman. The firm has also settled $30 million in claims against Redlands Unified School District.
