$300K settlement sought by woman who claims sexual abuse as LAUSD special needs student

Attorneys for a woman who alleged she was sexually abused as a minor special needs student by a Los Angeles Unified teacher’s assistant are asking a judge to approve a $300,000 settlement on the plaintiff’s behalf with the district.

The plaintiff is identified only as S.M. in the Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit. Her lawyers filed court papers with Judge Richard L. Fruin asking that he give his nod to the accord.

Fruin held a hearing on the motion Monday but did not rule and instead continued the hearing until July 15 so the woman’s attorneys can file with the court information on whether the plaintiff is receiving any public benefits.

After medical expenses are deducted, the woman would receive about $178,400 if the settlement is approved, according to the plaintiffs’ attorneys’ court papers.

According to the lawsuit, the teacher’s assistant, Joshua Jacob Estrada, inappropriately touched S.M. on campus at David W. Griffith Middle School in 2016 when she was a minor. S.M., now 22, was 14 at the time and contended that the school faculty witnessed the alleged assaults against her but did not take immediate action against Estrada.

“Estrada had a special relationship with plaintiff because he acted as her special education teacher’s assistant at David W. Griffith Middle School,” the suit filed in May 2018 stated. “Instead of providing plaintiff with proper classroom instruction, Estrada took advantage of her and used manipulation and coercion to sexually abuse her.”

In their court papers, LAUSD attorneys denied S.M.’s allegations and said they were barred by the statute of limitations.

Estrada, now 36, was sentenced in Los Angeles Superior Court in April 2018 to 364 days in jail, ordered to register as a sex offender and complete a 52-week sex offender class. Two months earlier, he pleaded no contest to five counts of contacting a minor to commit a sexual offense.