Sexual Abuse Lawsuit Results

San Francisco Unified School District Settles Two Sexual Abuse Lawsuits for $4.5 million

Published on: March 1, 2024 | By Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, LLP

Two sexual abuse lawsuits against the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) have been settled. The lawsuits involved allegations of sexual abuse by former George Washington High School athletic director Lawrence Young-Yet Chan towards two students, identified as Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2.

According to the lawsuit, the abuse reportedly occurred on the school campus during school hours, in locations like Chan’s office, a locker room, and a stairwell. “School districts have a duty to protect their students and are required to take all reasonable steps to ensure their safety,” attorney Lauren Cerri said.

The SFUSD board of trustees approved the settlement amount following agreements between the insurance carriers, the survivors, and the district. The settlement was reached to spare the survivors from having to retell their stories and to allow them to move forward and start rebuilding their lives.

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Los Gatos Union School District settles sexual abuse lawsuit brought by two victims of fifth grade teacher

Published on: October 21, 2022 | By Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, LLP

The Los Gatos Union School District has agreed to pay a total of $5.1 million to a teenager and an adult who were sexually abused as children by Blossom Hill Elementary School teacher and youth theater director Joseph Brian Houg.

The sexual abuse lawsuit, CV No. 21CV388845, was filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court by attorneys for San Jose-based Cerri, Boskovich & Allard.

John Doe, 13, was sexually assaulted in early 2020; he will receive $900,000. John Doe 2, 23, was sexually abused in 2008-2009 and will receive $4.2 million.

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School District Settles Sexual Abuse Lawsuit by former Los Gatos HS Track Star

Published on: October 20, 2022 | By Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, LLP

The Los Gatos Saratoga Union High School District has agreed to pay a former student-athlete $3.485 million for the sexual abuse she endured for more than three years.

Beginning in 1999, student “Jane Doe” was abused by Los Gatos High School Assistant Track Coach Chioke Robinson, who began grooming her to accept his sexual advances when she was a 14-year-old freshman. The grooming escalated, and Robinson began having intercourse with Jane when she was 15.

Jane’s settlement was negotiated by Cerri, Boskovich & Allard attorney Lauren Cerri.

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Mission College $7.6 million rape settlement

Published on: September 29, 2022 | By Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, LLP

Law firm of Cerri, Boskovich & Allard announces that West Valley-Mission Community College District settles for $7.6 million with disabled rape victim

The West Valley- Mission Community College District will pay a disabled rape victim $7.6 million as a result of a lawsuit filed by the law firm of Cerri, Boskovich & Allard.

The lawsuit filed in 2020 alleged that district officials failed to protect a now 26-year-old developmentally disabled woman from a known sexual predator.

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Young women’s lives were shattered by sexual abuse, jury agrees and awards them $102.5 million

Published on: August 15, 2022 | By Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, LLP

In one of the largest civil jury verdicts in Santa Clara County history, the Union School District in San Jose has been ordered to pay $102.5 million to two young women who were sexually abused by former Dartmouth Middle School band director Samuel Neipp.

The school district has sought to overturn the verdict.

“It’s a high number but we’ve shown the court the verdict is justified,” attorney Lauren Cerri said. Ms. Cerri, from San Jose-based Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, represented one of the two women in the case.

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Marin County jury awards $10 million to survivor of Tamalpais High School sexual abuse

Published on: May 26, 2022 | By Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, LLP

A Marin County jury ruled that the Tamalpais Union High School District was 100 percent negligent for the 2003 sexual abuse of a then-high school student by its then PE teacher and tennis coach Normandie Burgos (Marin County Superior Court, Case# CIV2001133). It awarded the student $10 million.

The student, Alexander Harrison, is now 36 years old.

His lawsuit against the Tamalpais Union High School District was filed in March 2020 by the San Jose-based law firm of Cerri, Boskovich & Allard under the auspices of AB 218, which extends the statute of limitations to allow older child sexual abuse cases to be filed through December 2022.

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Union School District settles 40-year-old sexual abuse case for $7.5 million

Published on: May 26, 2022 | By Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, LLP

Teacher showed no remorse for abusing as many as 40 male students

When Dennis Thomas started teaching at Cinnabar Elementary School in San Jose, it wasn’t long before school officials became aware that he was befriending young boys and taking them to his home or to places like the Dream Inn in Santa Cruz.

One time he even took a student on a Mexican cruise and he often sexually abused students at school – making boys sit on his lap, and inappropriately rubbing and touching them.

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Sexual abuse survivor says, ‘Bob, Lauren and Jancy are a dream team’

Published on: December 25, 2021 | By Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, LLP

The day Allison Brown told police she had been sexually abused by her former basketball coach was life-changing for both her and Greg Marshall: he is now serving a 6-plus year sentence for repeatedly abusing Allison and she is working to recover from his abuse.

Allison was a student-athlete at Valley Christian High School in San Jose when Marshall began abusing her in the early 2000s.

In 2021, Allison hired Cerri, Boskovich & Allard to represent her in a sexual abuse lawsuit against Valley Christian, saying the school should have protected her from Marshall.

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Sexual abuse survivor Stevie Gould empowered by suing USTA

Published on: November 11, 2021 | By Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, LLP

Sexual predator Normandie Burgos, a once well-respected Northern California tennis coach, is serving a 255-year prison sentence after being found guilty in May 2020 of 60 counts of child molestation.

Some of the charges involved Stevie Gould, who was a 13- year-old tennis player when Burgos began abusing him. The abuse went on for two years.

Stevie is largely responsible for putting Burgos in prison: he secretly recorded the tennis coach admitting to having sex with a child and turned the recording over to police.

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Settlement reached in sexual abuse cases against New Haven Unified School District

Published on: May 10, 2021 | By Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, LLP

District pays $2.25 million to three girls sexually abused by teacher.

The New Haven Unified School District has agreed to pay $2.25 million to three young girls who were sexually abused by their third-grade teacher, Michael William Howey, when they were eight years old. Two of the girls, who were represented by the San Jose law firm of Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, will share equally in the settlement with the third girl, who was represented by another law firm.

The first complaint about Howey’s inappropriate behavior came during the 2002-2003 school year when he was teaching at Cesar Chavez Middle School but school officials ignored it.

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