A federal judge granted preliminary approval Tuesday to a proposed $5.75 million class-action settlement of a lawsuit accusing the state of allowing and covering up years of sexual abuse of students at Hawaii School for the Deaf and Blind.
The plaintiffs claim that as many as 35 current and former students were abused on the Kapahulu public school’s campus and on school buses since Aug. 10, 2001.
The lawsuit, filed in 2011 by Honolulu attorney Michael Green, alleged that a group of students “bullied, terrorized, assaulted, robbed, sodomized (and) raped” younger students at the school.
According to a timetable set by U.S. Magistrate Judge Kevin S.C. Chang, the state must publish in the newspaper a notice of the proposed settlement for four consecutive weeks starting no later than Monday and mail notices to affected people by March 8.
Anyone who may qualify for compensation but wishes not to participate in the settlement has until
April 5 to opt out. People will have a chance to state their objections in court on April 22, when Chang considers final approval.
Victims will receive payments of $20,000, $75,000 or $200,000 based on how their experiences affected them.
The five lawyers who represent the students and parents who brought the lawsuit will receive at least $900,000 of the settlement money for attorney fees and up to an additional $100,000 for costs and taxes.
The settlement money must also cover the cost of administering and distributing the money and for the fees of retired state Judge Riki May Amano, who was the court-appointed special master during the litigation and who will also be the claims administrator.
Parents and guardians of students who attended the school sued the state, longtime school Principal Sydney Dickerson and school counselor Scott O’Neal in 2011, alleging that a group of students bullied, terrorized, assaulted, robbed, sodomized and raped younger students.
Under the terms of the proposed settlement, the state will contribute $5 million into the settlement fund on behalf of itself and Dickerson. O’Neal will contribute $750,000. The state has also agreed to make a number of safety improvements at the public school that serves students in kindergarten through the 12th grade and is the only school in the state for deaf and blind students.
Police said in 2011 that several juvenile males were arrested in connection with the case.
