Los Angeles Unified sued numerous of its former insurers Thursday, seeking more than $40 million in damages for their alleged failure to provide coverage for claims and lawsuits related to the sexual molestation of students by a former Telfair Elementary School teacher.
The Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit states that the LAUSD bought coverage from the companies from July 1998 to July 2011 to protect itself against risks such as those that occurred in the Telfair litigation.
“The insurers wrongfully abandoned the school district, forcing it to defend itself and utilize its own much-needed resources to fund its own defense or covered or at least potentially covered claims against it and clearly covered settlements of those claims,” the suit states.
The insurers sued include AIU Insurance Co., Allied World National Assurance Co. and Endurance American Specialty Insurance Co.
The LAUSD was first sued in 2012 regarding teacher Paul Chapel and the alleged negligence of the district in hiring, retaining and supervising the teacher while he taught at the Pacoima school, the suit states.
Chapel, then 51, was sentenced in September 2012 to 25 years in prison for molesting 13 of his students. He taught third grade at Telfair Elementary for 13 years.
