LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles Unified School District will pay more than $139 million to end remaining litigation involving an elementary school teacher convicted of committing numerous lewd acts on his students, according to the settlement announced Friday. Combined with another 65 cases settled earlier for $30 million, the nearly $170 million is believed to be the largest ever for a school sex abuse case, according to lawyers for the victims.
Plaintiff's lawyers had planned to present evidence at trial next month that the school district was aware of sexual misconduct by Berndt over three decades but failed to act until a photo processor at a pharmacy contacted police about pictures of blindfolded children being fed some substance.
