$7.5 Million Settlement for Adoptive Family in San Bernardino County Foster Care Abuse Case
Won by Kristensen LLP (co-counsel) and Rossman Law Group.
A federal civil rights suit brought by adoptive parents William and Michelle Mueller, and the boy's adoptive grandfather, accused San Bernardino County and a Children and Family Services social worker of concealing a younger foster child's abuse by his older brother before the adoption. The county settled in August 2022 for $7.5 million plus attorney fees, with court approval, before trial. The county did not admit liability.
What happened
In January 2018, William and Michelle Mueller and the adoptive grandfather, Michael Dobie, sued the County of San Bernardino in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (case 5:18-cv-00151). They brought the case on behalf of a young boy identified in court papers only as E.M. The suit claimed the county's Children and Family Services department failed to protect him and then hid what it knew from the family that adopted him.
The complaint described two brothers, then ages 10 and 4, who entered foster care in September 2013 because of mental health, substance abuse and domestic violence problems at home. The younger boy, it said, was sexually and physically assaulted by his older brother while the two lived in a foster home. The complaint also said the older brother had earlier been removed from another foster home for inappropriate behavior with a female foster child.
The Muellers finalized the adoption of both boys on March 20, 2017. They said they had asked to avoid children with a history of sexual abuse or behavioral problems and were never told of the abuse. According to the suit, the younger boy had reported the assaults to social worker Deborah Kay in late 2015 and 2016, and she warned him not to tell 'their secrets' or he could be removed from the Muellers' home. It also alleged she did not record or report the abuse and that drawings the child made were removed from the foster home. Six days after the adoption, the boy reported being threatened with a knife. The Muellers told Kay, who allegedly recommended therapy rather than a report. The older brother was removed from the home in May 2017.
The claims included civil rights violations, violations of the federal Adoption and Assistance Act and Child Welfare Act, negligence and negligent concealment. The county denied wrongdoing and asserted qualified and absolute immunity. It admitted it had not told the Muellers of the younger boy's abuse history, and said Kay had no knowledge of the abuse until the older brother was removed.
Eric Rossman of Rossman Law Group led the plaintiffs' side, with John Kristensen of Kristensen LLP as co-counsel. The county agreed to settle on or about August 29, 2022, ahead of a federal trial, and the court approved the settlement. It paid $7.5 million plus attorney fees. County spokesperson David Wert said the county 'has not admitted any liability in this matter.'
Rossman said the settlement brought closure and justice to the child and his family, and that he expected the county to take steps to correct systemic failures. The court terminated the case in January 2023.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.IE Voice, 'Behind San Bernardino County's $7.5M+ Foster Care Abuse Settlement: Part 1', Oct. 6, 2022·Archived copy
- 2.IE Voice, 'Behind San Bernardino County's $7.5M Foster Care Child Abuse Settlement, Part 2', Oct. 17, 2022·Archived copy
- 3.CourtListener, William Mueller v. County of San Bernardino, No. 5:18-cv-00151 (C.D. Cal.), docket
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