County near settlement with family of girl who died in foster care

County near settlement with family of girl who died in foster care

February 28, 2010 12:02 PM
JOHN C. ENSSLIN

THE GAZETTE
Rather than face a potentially damaging and costly trial, El Paso County attorneys are close to reaching an out-of-court settlement in a federal lawsuit brought by the mother of a 2-year-old girl killed while in foster care.

In November, both sides initiated private mediation in the wrongful death suit filed in U.S. District Court in Denver by the estate of Alizé Vick, who died of a closed head injury while in the care of former foster mom Jules Lynn Cuneo.
“We have reached a conclusion, but I can’t yet go into details because we are still sorting out some technical, legal issues,” El Paso County Attorney William Louis said Wednesday. Those issues involve the ability to recover money on behalf of the county, he said.

A formal settlement including the dollar amount would be subject to a public vote of the county commissioners, Louis added.

On Feb. 19, a 4th Judicial District jury found Cuneo guilty of child abuse resulting in death, but did not convict her of first-degree murder, which would have meant mandatory life in prison.

The jurors in the criminal case did not hear some evidence that might have figured in a civil trial, such as alleged instances of verbal abuse by Cuneo overheard by a neighbor on a baby monitor.

A civil trial also could have raised other issues, such as allegations that authorities ignored obvious issues about Cuneo’s suitability before she was approved as a foster care mom and complaints raised months prior to Alize’s death by her grandmother.

El Paso County Human Services removed Alizé and her younger brother Anthoni from their home in March 2007, in part because they were living with their paternal grandfather, a registered sex offender.

On the day the county took custody of the children, their mother, Ashley Lindenberger said she was high on drugs.

One month later she was jail. So was the children’s father.

Lindenberger also filed lawsuits in the 4th Judicial District Court against Cuneo and Kids Crossing, the nonprofit agency that placed the Vick children with Cuneo. However, all sides reached an agreement to dismiss those lawsuits on Nov. 25, according to court records.

Jeffrey R. Hill, the attorney for Lindenberger in both the state and federal lawsuits, said last week that he could not comment on the reason for the dismissal.

A motion filed in federal court states that the El Paso County commissioners, meeting in executive session on Nov. 19, directed their attorneys to pursue mediation for the county and for several former and current Human Services employees named in the lawsuit.

The motion notes that El Paso County is “self-insured to a considerable extent and typically defense costs and fees are not covered by liability insurance.”

If a settlement is reached, that would not be an unusual outcome, according to a New York City law professor who has testified as an expert witness in cases involving allegations of abuse or wrongful death of children in foster care.

Daniel Pollack, an attorney and social worker who teaches at Yeshiva University, published a law journal article in December highlighting several such lawsuits, including one in Tulsa, Okla., in which a jury awarded $20 million against a former foster mom.

Pollack said it’s difficult to generalize about such cases because the specific facts and state laws vary from case to case. But the pressure to settle is usually there, he added.

“I think everyone would rather settle it than go to trial because it’s such an incredible production to go to trial whether you’re the plaintiff or the defense,” he said.

http://www.gazette.com/articles/settlement-94899-county-court.html