The New Haven Unified School District (Alameda County Superior Court, Case #17868000) is facing a third sexual abuse lawsuit resulting from the molestation of several elementary school children by former teacher Michael Howey. Howey entered a guilty plea to sex abuse charges, including the plaintiff in this lawsuit, and is now serving a lengthy prison term for his crimes.
Michael Howey, New Haven Unified School District
In representing a young sexual abuse victim, our lawsuit alleges that the named entities failed to properly supervise convicted child molester Ronald Guinto. As a result, a then ten-year-old Boy Scout was sexually abused.
The lawsuit claims that in March of 2008, Ronald Guinto contacted the SVMBC and asked if he could volunteer with a Boy Scout pack near his San Jose home. Despite no history with the Boy Scouts nor any wilderness training experience, Guinto was able to obtain a volunteer position with a group of 9 to 11-year-old boys. Within a few months, Guinto achieved a leadership position as Webelos Den Leader for Pack 220. That position gave him the ability to plan and carry out overnight campouts and outdoor activities.
As part of the $8.25 million settlement with three child sex abuse victims, the Morgan Hill Unified School District is also moving forward in implementing and supporting programs aimed at preventing the sexual abuse of students.
The law firm of Cerri, Boskovich & Allard announced that the Morgan Hill Unified School District agreed to pay $8.25 million to three then-elementary school students sexually abused by former teacher John Loyd. At the same time, complying with the wishes of the victims’ parents, the district is also moving forward to carry out child sexual abuse prevention programs.
The agreement was reached as jury selection was about to start in the sexual abuse lawsuit (case #115CV285795 – Santa Clara County Superior Court) against the school district. The three children were represented by attorneys Robert Allard, Lauren Cerri, Ken Turek, and Christopher Schumb.
According to California’s Sex Offender Management Board, the number of sex offenders on the Megan’s Law website is nearly 17,000 less than than the number of registered sex offenders in the state. That’s because Megan’s Law exempts some registered sex offenders, including those convicted of sexual battery or a misdemeanor charge of annoying or molesting a child. The law also provides for exclusions of other sex offenses as long as they don’t involve “oral copulation or penetration.”
In the case of Robert Adams, he pleaded no contest to charges that he allegedly molested six girls. But by entering into a plea agreement, the felony charges were dropped in exchange for Adams pleading no contest to six counts of misdemeanor child molestation. Part of Adams’ plea agreement was that he register as a sex offender for life. Adams has reportedly registered with Folsom police as a sex offender. However, the information kept by the police is not available to the public.
When it comes to the state’s public database of sex offenders, Megan’s Law only requires registration of serious and violent sex offenders. The Megan’s Law website is intended to make the public aware of sex offenders by posting their pictures and home addresses online.
An Orange County, California jury awarded former Olympic swimming hopeful and USA Swimming National Team member Dagny Knutson $617,810 for the financial and emotional harm caused by her former attorney, Richard Foster. Knutson trusted Foster with her swimming career when she retained him in late 2010, but the aquatics insider instead defrauded Knutson.
The Knutson legal team featured attorneys Robert Allard, Jonathan Little, Mark Boskovich and Laura Liccardo.
“Dagny was used, abused, manipulated and betrayed by a powerful group of aquatic insiders,” said Allard. “This is full vindication for her. After what she has been through and what she has lost, she deserves it.”
Despite recent stories of USA Swimming coaching sex abuse, swimming is one of the most popular Olympic sports, and the success of famous athletes such as Michael Phelps and Missy Franklin inspires children across the nation to start swim lessons with USA Swimming Clubs, YMCA programs, or municipal summer recreation pools. All too frequently, however, coaches abuse their close relationships with young athletes, and take sexual advantage of them. The problem of coaching sex abuse is worsened when the supervising organization, rather than taking steps to protect the victim and any other children under its care, tries to preserve its reputation by covering up the actions of the coach turned predator.
One of the biggest coaching sex abuse scandals in youth athletics in recent years continues to involve USA Swimming. So far, over a hundred coaches working for USA Swimming’s member clubs have been permanently banned from the sport for molesting, groping, and secretly filming the young athletes under their care.
This case started with a single victim. In January 2012, authorities arrested Craig Chandler on suspicion of molesting a young child at O.B. Whaley Elementary School, where he had worked as a teacher for nine years. As the investigation proceeded, it became clear that he had molested five girls going back to 2010. The jury sentenced Chandler to 75 years in prison. Moreover, O.B. Whaley’s principal, Lyn Vijayendran, who was told of Chandler’s inappropriate behavior but failed to notify police or Child Protective Services, was sentenced to six months in jail.
Attorney Robert Allard of Cerri, Boskovich & Allard led the litigation team against the Evergreen Elementary School District. By preparing an airtight case against the District, Mr. Allard’s team persuaded the District to pay $15 million to the victims for the lifelong harm they are to endure. At the same time, the settlement prevented the poor victims from having to relive their trauma in a courtroom. Allard knew that the Evergreen School District was clearly at fault—that the principal of O.B. Whaley had been previously made aware of Chandler’s inappropriate behavior with students, and had even been observed engaging in inappropriate acts by other teachers, yet the principal had taken no action. Hence the extraordinarily large amount of the settlement.
Concerns about teacher-student texting are under debate in Clark County, Nevada. This after a recent spate of sexual misconduct and molestation cases.
The Las Vegas Sun examined ten years of sexual misconduct cases by county educators (2005 to 2015). They discovered that half the cases involved private electronic communication between the teacher and the victim. Furthermore, from 2010 to 2015, 80% of sexual misconduct cases involved some form of private electronic communication. This included texting, email, and so forth. As a result, predatory teachers have been using text and email to groom their victims.
Whenever a young child receives a financial settlement, the potential for financial fraud exists. Minors don’t have the same rights as adults when it comes to sex abuse settlements. And they cannot enter into any agreements on their own. As a result, this means that they can’t bring lawsuits, make settlement decisions, open bank or investment accounts, fund annuities, or purchase real estate. As a result, a competent adult must perform these acts on the minor’s behalf.
Thankfully, the courts in California supervise sex abuse settlements made to minors. Furthermore, court orders are necessary to approve all forms of sex abuse settlements with minor plaintiffs.
Sex Abuse Lawsuit Filed against San Ramon Unified School District Due to Molestation by Wrestling Coach
District officials allegedly failed to detect predatory grooming behavior for over ten years, giving coach the opportunity to molest.
The San Jose, California law firm of Cerri, Boskovich & Allard has filed a childhood sexual abuse lawsuit against the San Ramon Unified School District, New Life Church of Alamo and convicted predator and former California High School wrestling coach Kevin Lopez.
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