Pierce County has signed off on another round of payouts tied to its troubled juvenile detention center, approving $750,000 this month for people who say they were sexually abused while locked up at Remann Hall. The two settlements, cleared on March 3 and March 24, are the latest in a growing stack of claims that survivors and their attorneys say reflect decades of alleged misconduct inside the facility.
Settlement details and council votes
According to The News Tribune, the Pierce County Council voted on March 24 to approve a $600,000 settlement for a claimant identified in public documents as M.P. Earlier in the month, on March 3, the council signed off on a separate $150,000 payment. Together, the two approvals bring this month’s total to $750,000.
The News Tribune reports that the deals followed fact-finding and negotiations between plaintiffs’ attorneys and county lawyers. At least one of the settlements was approved without the county admitting liability, according to the paper.
Claims are piling up
More than 100 former detainees have now come forward to say they were sexually abused at Remann Hall, with litigation trackers showing about 132 total filings, according to Sokolove Law. Seattle firm Oslund Udo Little, which represents multiple claimants, has publicly noted that Pierce County agreed to roughly $7 million in related settlements last year alone, and says more survivors continue to step forward.
Attorneys say that the high volume of cases reflects both new reports and long-standing, historical allegations that are only now moving into the civil courts.
Allegations and facility problems
Plaintiffs’ filings place the alleged abuse roughly between the 1980s and the early 2000s and say many of the reported victims were between about 10 and 14 years old at the time. Those allegations, summarized in litigation documents and by local legal observers, describe patterns of prolonged abuse and failures of supervision inside the juvenile facility…