School settles claims over 'tasting games'
Source: Agencies |
March 14, 2013, Thursday
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THE Los Angeles school district will pay millions of dollars to settle claims and lawsuits filed by students and families from an elementary school where a third-grade teacher was accused of spoon-feeding children semen in what he called "tasting games."
Attorney Raymond Boucher, who represents several Miramonte Elementary School students, said that each claimant would receive US$470,000.
District General Counsel David Holmquist said the settlement covers 58 of the 191 claims and lawsuits filed by students and parents against the district after the January 2012 arrest of former third-grade teacher Mark Berndt on 23 charges of lewd behavior spanning five years at Miramonte.
The 58 people involved in the settlement are all students, he said.
Prosecutors said in Berndt's "tasting games" he fed students his semen on cookies and by spoon, sometimes blindfolding and photographing them. Berndt, who taught for 32 years at the South Los Angeles school, has pleaded not guilty in the criminal case.
The allegations against Berndt came to light when a drugstore photo technician noticed dozens of odd photos of blindfolded children and reported them to authorities. Investigators said they discovered a plastic spoon in Berndt's classroom trash bin that was found to contain traces of semen.
Boucher, who represents 13 of the 58 students in the settlement, said proving some of the claims would have been a problem at trial. Some children did not have photographs of themselves eating the cookies laced with a milky white substance, or of being fed spoonfuls of it.
In addition, there was no way to prove the substance in photos was semen, he added.
Frank Perez, an attorney representing eight students, said parents chose to settle rather than put their children through the emotional upheaval of litigation and to put the case behind them.
Other attorneys blasted the settlement amount as paltry and said they would proceed with their cases.
"This is lifelong trauma," lawyer Brian Claypool said.
Attorney John Manly said the district has not yet explained how the alleged incidents went undetected for so long.
"The district got a great deal today," he said. "There's not been a single explanation of who knew what when."
Attorney Raymond Boucher, who represents several Miramonte Elementary School students, said that each claimant would receive US$470,000.
District General Counsel David Holmquist said the settlement covers 58 of the 191 claims and lawsuits filed by students and parents against the district after the January 2012 arrest of former third-grade teacher Mark Berndt on 23 charges of lewd behavior spanning five years at Miramonte.
The 58 people involved in the settlement are all students, he said.
Prosecutors said in Berndt's "tasting games" he fed students his semen on cookies and by spoon, sometimes blindfolding and photographing them. Berndt, who taught for 32 years at the South Los Angeles school, has pleaded not guilty in the criminal case.
The allegations against Berndt came to light when a drugstore photo technician noticed dozens of odd photos of blindfolded children and reported them to authorities. Investigators said they discovered a plastic spoon in Berndt's classroom trash bin that was found to contain traces of semen.
Boucher, who represents 13 of the 58 students in the settlement, said proving some of the claims would have been a problem at trial. Some children did not have photographs of themselves eating the cookies laced with a milky white substance, or of being fed spoonfuls of it.
In addition, there was no way to prove the substance in photos was semen, he added.
Frank Perez, an attorney representing eight students, said parents chose to settle rather than put their children through the emotional upheaval of litigation and to put the case behind them.
Other attorneys blasted the settlement amount as paltry and said they would proceed with their cases.
"This is lifelong trauma," lawyer Brian Claypool said.
Attorney John Manly said the district has not yet explained how the alleged incidents went undetected for so long.
"The district got a great deal today," he said. "There's not been a single explanation of who knew what when."
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