City To Pay $54.9M Settlement In Sexual Abuse Claims

SANTA MONICA, CA — The Santa Monica City Council this week approved settlements with 61 claimants, resolving additional pending claims and lawsuits against the City of Santa Monica arising out of allegations of sexual abuse between the 1980s and early 2000s by former City employee Eric Uller.

“To each of the individuals impacted by these horrific crimes, we are deeply sorry for the pain caused by one of our former employees and hope this settlement supports your journey to healing,” Mayor Sue Himmelrich said.

The settlement resolves all claims and lawsuits brought by 61 individuals who allege that Uller sexually abused or attempted to sexually abuse them between the late 1980s and early 2000s when many were youth participating in the Police Activities League “PAL” program.

The city agrees to pay $54.9M into a qualified settlement fund. The funds will be allocated to the 61 people as determined by a retired Superior Court Judge, whom plaintiffs’ counsel retained as a third-party neutral to perform this allocation.

Following the first allegations of sexual abuse by Eric Uller in 2018, the City created a new code of conduct for providing youth services and expanded requirements for Child Abuse Mandated Reporter Training for all employees, volunteers, and contractors for any City-managed youth program. Praesidium, which formerly audited City operations related to youth programming, is expected to serve as the Child Protection Officer for the City and work to convene a Child Protection Committee.

Uller is a former Santa Monica Police Athletic League volunteer and city employee who was accused of molesting four boys and charged with six felony counts for alleged crimes dating back as far as 1986.

Prosecutors said three of the four victims were under the age of 14 at the time the alleged crimes were committed – between December 1986 and September 1995.

Uller, who worked for the city of Santa Monica as a systems analyst, was the subject of an investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Special Victims Bureau after detectives received information from the Santa Monica Police Department.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Santa Monica police received an anonymous tip about the alleged lewd acts. Uller was put on administrative leave.

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