A jury has awarded $13 million in emotional distress damages to a young woman who said she was molested by an aide at Daniel Pearl Magnet High School in Lake Balboa during the 2014-15 school year, when she was a 14-year-old freshman.
A Van Nuys Superior Court jury reached its verdict Thursday. The panel found the district 80% responsible for the damages and the alleged perpetrator, Daniel Garcia, liable for the remaining 20%, though the plaintiff’s attorneys dismissed Garcia as a defendant in January. But the jury was tasked with deciding how much responsibility Garcia bore to reduce that amount from the financial responsibility of the district.
Of the $13 million total awarded by the jury, the district is responsible for $10.4 million, John Taylor, one of the plaintiff’s attorneys, said Saturday. Because Garcia was dismissed as a defendant, he will not have to pay the other $2.6 million.
Garcia, then 19, met the girl in September 2014, when Garcia attended her classes as an aide to a disabled student and began grooming the plaintiff by paying special attention to her and speaking with her during class as well as during nutrition breaks, lunch and after school on campus, according to the suit brought in April 2017.
Garcia escalated his attention with texting and excessive touching of the girl on campus and he also told her they were in a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship, the suit states. Garcia also abused the girl in his car near the school in late November 2014, the suit additionally contended.
The plaintiff, now 24, did not muster the courage to come forward until March 2016, when she confided in her mother and showed her two handwritten notes from Garcia, according to her suit. Her mother immediately informed the school principal about what her daughter had told her and gave the principal copies of Garcia’s letters.
Garcia was arrested in May 2016, admitted that he had sexual contact with the girl and several other LAUSD female students and pleaded no contest to one felony, the suit states. He was sentenced to eight days in county jail and probation, Taylor said.
As to why Garcia was dismissed from the lawsuit, Taylor said the purpose of the civil litigation was to focus on the conduct of the school district and its failure to stop Garcia’s abuse.
LAUSD attorneys denied any negligence or liability on the part of the district.
An attorney representing Garcia could not immediately be reached for comment.
Staff writer Nathaniel Percy contributed to this report.