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Los Angeles TeamGuides Foster Care Agency to Favorable Settlement
in Alleged Abuse Case
For nearly five years, a team of Los Angeles attorneys led by associates
Kate
Winston
and
Ryan Evans
and supervised by
Gayle Jenkins
, have actively
defended a Southern California foster care agency against difficult allegations of
negligence that a former ward was sexually abused by one of the client’s foster
parents more than 20 years ago
Filing on the eve of the statute of limitations, the former ward alleged that our client
had negligently placed him with a sexually abusive foster care father. The team
took substantial written and deposition discovery that demonstrated our client was
not aware of any abusive tendencies by the foster parent or had any knowledge of
such conduct. However, discovery and public records confirmed that several years
after the foster care relationship ended, the foster father was charged with sexual
contact with an underage girl and is now a registered sex offender. Moreover,
the client had no records and no employees from the time period at issue to
defend against the allegations that the screening procedures in the early 1990s
were sufficient. During a mediation held on the verge of trial and with dispositive
motions pending, the client acknowledged the difficulty of defending against
such allegations at trial, and the potential for a judgment that could have forced it
to cease operations, and agreed to settle the claims for substantially less than it
almost certainly would have paid if found liable.
Benefits TeamAssists Client with Benefit Plan FilingCompliance
Associate
Thomas Moore
and specialist
Joan Peifer Brandt
, under the
supervision of partner
Mike Melbinger
, advised Community Action, Inc. of Central
Texas regarding IRS Form 5500 compliance issues. Community Action is a
community-based, anti-poverty organization that has been in continuous operation
since 1965 and has grown into a large integrated health, education, and human
services agency that provides a multitude of services to low-income residents of
the rural capital area of Texas. The team assisted Community Action negotiate
various IRS Compliance Programs and make current its Form 5500 filings, which
pension and welfare benefit plans must generally file to report their financial
condition, investments, and operations.
Hong Kong, Los Angeles, and New York Attorneys Organize Non-
Profit Assisting “Left Behind” Children in China
Los Angeles associate
Josh Birenbaum
and New York associate
Jerry Chen
, with
supervision from Hong Kong partner
Simon Luk
, established the Love Foundation
USA as a Delaware non-profit corporation and petitioned for federal tax exempt
status. Love Foundation USA is a related entity to Love Foundation, Inc. , a Hong
Kong-based charitable entity (and also a firm pro bono client) that provides
Christian and English/Chinese teaching materials and equipment for the “left-
behind” children of migrant workers in China to attend live-in summer educational
camps. These children are separated from their parents and remain in the rural
areas while their parents work in cities due to socio-economic reasons. The course
materials will equip the government-sanctioned local Christian churches, who are
hosting the summer camps.
Simon Luk
Thomas Moore
Kate Winston