WA was sued over Pierce County toddler’s death. Jury returned $130M verdict

Pierce County jurors have awarded $130 million against the state and a day care center in a lawsuit filed by the family of a 2-year-old girl who was discovered dead in a Parkland apartment by a social worker, according to a spokesperson for the family’s legal counsel.

The jury returned the verdict Tuesday in favor of the estate of Sarai Brooks, Mark Firmani, a spokesman for Dearie Law Group, said in a news release Wednesday. Firmani said the verdict was the largest of its kind in Washington state history.

The wrongful death lawsuit, filed in 2024, alleged that the state and a South Hill daycare failed to protect Sarai, who was removed from her mother’s care due to suspected abuse but was fired shortly before she was killed in 2022 by her mother’s boyfriend.

During opening statements in the civil trial last month, attorneys for the state and the Love & Laughter Learning Center disputed the allegations of wrongdoing. They pointed out that Sarai’s death was caused by two people: her mother, Jharmaine Baker, and her mother’s boyfriend, Augustino Seu Maile.

Attorney Ray Dearie, one of the attorneys representing Sarai’s family, told jurors at the time that the plaintiffs’ attorney was seeking $175 million in damages, including for Sarai’s three siblings.

“This verdict gives Sarai a voice,” Dearie said in a statement Wednesday. “The jury had the very difficult task of hearing in detail exactly what Sarai endured and how many opportunities there were to save her.”

The jury verdict also included an additional $10 million against Baker and Maile, according to Firmani.

Sarai, who was found dead on March 11, 2022, died from blunt force trauma to the head and had contusions from her face to her feet, abrasions on her cheek and lacerations on and in her mouth, The News Tribune previously reported.

Nearly a year earlier, Child Protective Services took Sarai and her two brothers from Baker due to suspicions of serious abuse, according to court records. The state Department of Children, Youth and Families, which oversees CPS, learned that Baker allowed Maile to regularly abuse Sarai, according to the lawsuit.

Baker took the children back in December 2021 under a court order that imposed several conditions on their return, Dearie told jurors last month. Baker was required to stay away from Maile, immediately notify law enforcement if he showed up or attempted to contact his children, and enroll his children in daycare to supervise them more, among other rules.

Baker, who was also abused by Maile and pregnant with his child, failed to comply with all conditions, according to Dearie, who claimed non-compliance should have led to the children being taken away from her again. Although Baker denied any contact with Maile, neighbors said they argued all the time and that Maile was sleeping in a bedroom during a DCYF health and safety visit, Dearie had said.

During Sarai’s first two days at the Love & Laughter Learning Center, staff documented two marks on her thigh and a bruise on her eye, but they did not report those injuries to DCYF despite having an obligation to report any suspected abuse or neglect, Dearie told jurors last month.

“The most painful part of this case is how preventable it was,” Dearie said in a statement Wednesday. “All it took to save this child’s life was one person doing their job: a call to a social worker, a report from a mandated reporter, or any follow-up attempt by the state. Any one of these actions could have saved Sarai’s life.”

The jury split the liability between the state and the daycare at 90% and 10%, respectively, according to Firmani.

DCYF and the Love & Laugh Learning Center did not immediately return messages seeking comment Wednesday.

Attorney Mary C. Butler, one of the attorneys representing the Love & Laughter Learning Center, told jurors last month that the state failed to provide key information to the daycare. The staff knew the children were in state custody under a dependency order, but Butler said they shouldn’t have inferred that the daycare also should have known a host of other things, including that there had been abuse.

Daycare staff did not believe abuse had occurred, which is why they chose not to call Child Protective Services, according to Butler’s opening statements to the jury last month. There were no more documented injuries after the first two days Sarai attended daycare and Baker had claimed Sarai had butted heads with a sibling, Butler said. The state did not communicate to day care staff that Baker was untrustworthy, Butler added.

Attorney Melissa Nelson, one of the state’s attorneys, told jurors last month that Baker lied and misled DCYF about things, including his contact with Maile, and that the state was unaware of Sarai’s injuries documented at the daycare. DCYF couldn’t act on what it didn’t know, she said.

Nelson assured the jury, however, that DCYF knew this was a “high-risk case” and did not rely solely on Baker’s word, noting that the agency obtained a restraining order in June 2021 to keep Maile away from children. As of December 2021, Baker had made progress and done everything asked of him by DCYF, and no social worker, daycare worker, service provider or other person in a “circle of trust” with eyes and ears on Sarai observed any abuse, according to Nelson.

Maile and Baker, ages 29 and 21 at the time of Sarai’s death, were both charged with her murder and ultimately reached plea bargains. The News Tribune previously reported it. Maile was sentenced to more than 16 years in prison in July 2024 after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter and other crimes. Baker was sentenced to six years in prison in June 2023 after pleading guilty to criminal mistreatment and two counts of second-degree child assault.