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VAN NUYS (CNS) - A judge has denied a motion by Los Angeles Unified for a retrial of a lawsuit in which the mother of a 6-year-old boy who was fatally beaten the day after Christmas in 2019 won $30 million in emotional distress damages.
Plaintiff Kenya Taylor, the 41-year-old mother of Dayvon Taylor, maintained the school district negligently hired, retained and supervised her son's accused killer, Tyler D'Shaun Martin Brand, for an after-school program.
On Tuesday, Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Michael B. Harwin denied the LAUSD's motions for a new trial and judgment notwithstanding the verdict. In an Aug. 29 verdict, jurors found the LAUSD 90% at fault and Kenya Taylor the remaining 10%.
The judge noted that because Brand was hired by the district, Kenya Taylor believed he was reliable and the plaintiff justifiably relied on the district's judgment.
"The court finds sufficient evidence to support the verdict," Harwin wrote.
In their court papers, LAUSD attorneys maintained the district was immune from plaintiff's claims under the state Education Code because Dayvon Taylor's death occurred off campus, during a school holiday, and not in connection with any school-sponsored activity.
The verdict also was improper because it assigned a "zero percentage of fault to the murderer," the LAUSD lawyers further argued in their court papers.
Brand, 26, pleaded no contest in May 2022 in Norwalk Superior Court to second-degree murder in the boy's death and was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison. The District Attorney's Office alleged the boy was severely beaten at the defendant's Downey apartment on Dec. 26, 2019, and died the same day at St. Mary Medical Center in Long Beach. Brand was the boy's godfather and had been caring for the tot over the holiday break, prosecutors said.
According to the suit, Dayvon attended Normandie Avenue Elementary School's Beyond the Bell program, where Brand was his supervisor and coach. Before the boy's death, Brand isolated Dayvon from other students, teachers and other supervisors so he could be alone with the boy, the suit filed in August 2020 alleged.
The district should have known of Brand's alleged history of abusive conduct with other children and that he was unfit to be working as an elementary school coach or supervisor, according to the suit, which further states that Kenya Taylor has suffered a "substantial loss of assistance, care, comfort, companionship, society, guidance, moral support, love, affection and protection" since her son's death.