David M. Ring

David M. Ring successfully represented a victim in his first child sexual abuse case against the Catholic church in the mid-1990s.

"After that one, I believed the church, the Boy Scouts, schools and public officials will have to come to realize that protecting kids is our first priority," he said. "Yet 25 years later sexual abuse known to institutions remains an epidemic."

In April, Ring settled with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles for $8 million a case in which a teenage female student was repeatedly sexually abused by her coach at San Gabriel Mission School. He eventually kidnapped her and took her to Las Vegas. It was said to be the largest settlement ever by the archdiocese for a single victim. Ring's complaint claimed intentional infliction of emotional distress. Jane Doe v. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, BC670469 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Aug. 1, 2017).

"The church has had its share of problems with priests. Those may be lessening now, but it is surprising this would still happen with employees after all the training they say they give everyone," Ring said. "Complaints about the abuser went up to the superintendent level and they just blew it off. I hope they're not getting complacent."

In July, Ring obtained a $45.4 million verdict--the eighth largest jury verdict in California in 2018, by his count--for a 10-year-old girl after the Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services failed to report and concealed information about sexual abuse within her own family.

Ring's investigation showed the department was investigating an unrelated matter in the child's household when officials became concerned that the girl, then seven, was sharing a bed with a 30-year-old man who had a history of child molestation. Despite assessing that the child was at high risk of sexual abuse, department officials failed to report the matter to law enforcement. As a result, the girl endured two subsequent years of daily sexual abuse by her mother and several others allowed to live in the home. The girl's father did not live in the home but she eventually confided the abuse to him. F.M. v. County of Los Angeles, BC510993 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed June 4, 2013).

"The judge gave us the options of a retrial or half the amount the jury awarded," Ring said. "The girl and her father settled for the reduced amount. The county paid without an appeal."

"And yes, I do have a lot more in the pipeline, unfortunately," Ring said. "Victims are more willing to come forward these days. But perps still go where the kids are. Organizations know that, but they aren't doing enough to get them out of their systems."

-- John Roemer