$23 Million Verdict Against LAUSD and Teacher Who Molested a Fifth-Grade Boy at Queen Anne Elementary

During the 2008-09 school year, a ten-year-old boy at Queen Anne Place Elementary School in Los Angeles was molested by his fifth-grade teacher, Forrest Stobbe, between ten and fifteen times inside the classroom. The abuse continued for five more incidents during the summer of 2009, when Stobbe was arrested. In September 2011, Stobbe pleaded no contest to lewd acts on a child and continuous sexual abuse of a minor under fourteen. He received a sixteen-year prison sentence.

The civil case, brought by attorney Stephen Estey of Estey and Bomberger, focused not only on Stobbe's conduct but on the district's failure to act. Evidence showed the school administration had received complaints about Stobbe before the abuse of this child began: he had been found alone in his car with a student after school hours, was reported for improperly touching another student, and had arranged private lunches with the victim. The district took no meaningful disciplinary action.

After fifteen days of trial and less than five hours of deliberations, the jury returned a $23 million verdict. The panel assigned 70 percent of fault to Stobbe (resulting in $16.1 million) and 30 percent to LAUSD (resulting in $6.9 million) for its failure to supervise and discipline a teacher whose behavior had drawn prior complaints. The district's insurance covered $3.9 million of that share, leaving LAUSD responsible for a $3 million deductible.

The outcome came despite LAUSD's pre-trial posture: the district had first offered $25,000 to settle, then raised that offer to $2 million on the eve of trial. Estey had asked the jury for $25 million. The $23 million verdict was reported at the time as the largest ever returned against the district in a molestation case involving a single victim.

No appellate reduction of the verdict appears in publicly available records.