Bittersweet Justice: New Jersey

Occasionally there is justice for those negatively affected by the child welfare and adoption systems. Unfortunately, it is usually bittersweet and much too late. This will serve as REFORM Talk’s justice files.

“A woman who claimed her foster parent abused her more than 50 years ago has agreed to a $6.75 million settlement with New Jersey in her Middlesex County suit. The accord was struck in the wake of a $25 million verdict in a similar case handled by the same lawyers.

In Taylor v. New Jersey Division of Child Protection and Permanency, plaintiff Juanita Taylor claimed she was sexual abused by a foster parent, Joseph Salmon, daily in May and June 1972 when she was 9 years old and placed in a foster home in Egg Harbor, according to plaintiffs lawyer Matthew Bonanno of Rebenack Aronow Mascolo in New Brunswick. Bonanno represented Taylor along with Vincent Nappo of Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala in Seattle, Washington.

Taylor was one of five children in the Salmon home, and all were abused by Salmon, Bonanno said. One of the children reported the abuse to police, and Salmon pleaded guilty to abusing two of the children, but not abusing Taylor, for reasons that are unclear, said Bonanno.

Taylor was under the care of the state Division of Youth and Family Services for much of her childhood, and she claimed she was sexually abused in other foster homes before and after she was in the Salmon home, but there were no records to corroborate those reports, said Bonanno.

Taylor, now 61, did not seek counseling until recently, but has been on disability retirement for many years, said Bonanno. She suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, has had an inability to have healthy relationships and has had difficulty trusting others as a result of the abuse, Bonanno said.

“I wouldn’t say she lived a normal life. It was a tough life. Certainly not an easy life. She certainly was seriously, seriously affected,” Bonanno said.

After Bonanno and Nappo filed suit against the Department of Children and Families and the Division of Child Protection and Permanency, the state moved for summary judgment based on Taylor’s minimal expenditures for mental health treatment, but the motion was denied, Bonanno said. He submitted an offer of judgment for $4.75 million in 2022 but the state’s counsel resisted negotiating for a settlement, Bonanno said.

But then, on March 12, a Middlesex County jury returned a verdict of $25 million in a similar case, Jones v. New Jersey Department of Children and Families. The plaintiff in the Jones case, similar to the Taylor case, claimed that she was sexually abused as a foster child in state custody and was represented by Bonanno and Nappo.

Niema Jones had allegations of sexual abuse that were more extensive than Taylor. Jones’ verdict was also subject to a high-low agreement with parameters of $4 million and $12 million. In Jones’ case, the jury found that the DCF and the Division of Child Protection and Permanency were 99% at fault in proximately causing Jones’ abuse and the four men who committed the assaults were, collectively, 1% at fault.

After the jury awarded the verdict in the Jones case, the state’s counsel was more willing to negotiate in the Taylor case, said Bonanno. The verdict “certainly got the wheels moving” in Taylor’s case, Bonanno said. The parties mediated with Harry G. Carroll of Meyerson, Fox & Conte in Montvale. The $6.75 million settlement was reached on April 30.

The state was represented by John North and Kersten Kortbawi of Greenbaum Rowe Smith & Davis in Woodbridge and Thomas Hart of Ruprecht, Hart, Ricciardulli & Sherman in Westfield.

A spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office confirms the settlement.”

How a $25M Verdict Motivated the State to Settle a Foster Care Sex Abuse Case for $6.7M
[New Jersey Law Journal 6/11/24 by Charles Toutant]