Family Awarded $10.8 Million in Molestation

A jury has awarded $10.8 million to the family of a La Verne boy who was molested by a teacher after finding that school district officials were negligent in their supervision of the instructor.

Jurors reached the verdict earlier this week after attorneys for the boy argued that the Bonita Unified School District ignored indications that convicted molester Jack R. Kelley could be a danger to children.

In 1996, Kelley was convicted of molesting the La Verne boy, who was on a soccer team coached by the teacher. The boy, who was 14 at the time, often visited Kelley at Gladstone Elementary School, where he taught. After several incidents including one at the school, the boy went to the authorities in June 1996. Kelley, 34, is now serving eight years in prison after pleading no contest to molesting the boy and another child who came forward.

The jury decided to give the boy, now 17, and his parents $121,700 for medical and counseling bills and $10.68 million for pain and suffering. The district before trial declined a $500,000 settlement recommended by its lawyers.

Bonita Unified, which serves San Dimas and La Verne, must pay 45% of the award, while Kelley was ordered to pay 55% of the damages.

“[The boy’s] family hopes the verdict forces the district to make major changes, so it can never happen again,” said attorney David M. Ring, who represented the teenager along with Patrick McNicholas.

Ring and a school district lawyer said Wednesday that the jury verdict hinged on an anonymous 1993 letter about Kelley as well as a 1989 school assessment that warned Kelley had taken photos of a student without a parent’s permission.

But jurors also saw a 1993 confidential memorandum to the school board from Gladstone Principal Marilyn Ward, who dismissed the accusation as without substance.

“Obviously we’re disappointed,” said school district attorney Nancy Mahan-Lamb, who added that the district will seek a new trial.