Chapter 21 - The civil case against Little Oaks
Our lawsuit against Little Oaks narrowed.
We did not claim the school caused every abusive act.
Diane did.
We claimed:
Negligent failure to follow mandated-reporting/notification procedures.
Unauthorized disclosure of child information to Diane.
Improper modification of pickup alerts.
Those failures extended her unsupervised access and delayed our discovery.
Little Oaks insurer defended.
Their expert said:
Even if school called earlier, exact timing of prevention uncertain.
True.
Maya’s first report occurred around eleven days before kitchen discovery.
Potentially several sessions could have been prevented.
Causation not exact.
Settlement discussions.
School offered:
$90,000.
Our lawyer recommended more.
We considered trial.
Then I asked:
“What does Noah need?”
Current therapy projected:
Maybe another year.
Future treatment uncertain.
No catastrophic permanent disability claim.
We eventually settled for:
$185,000
allocated to Noah under court-approved minor settlement procedures.
Funds placed in protected account accessible under court-approved structure? Need avoid trust mechanism. Could be blocked minor settlement account requiring court approval until adulthood. That's not central trust. Fine.
Attorney fees/costs approved.
Little Oaks did not admit intentional cover-up.
Agreed to continue corrective plan.
Maya sent me a letter.
Not apology theater.
She wrote:
May you like
“I wish I had called you myself.”
I believed her.
