$31.5 million settlement reached in lawsuit over California girl’s starvation death
SAN DIEGO– A lawsuit over the death of an 11-year-old California girl who was allegedly tortured and starved by her adoptive family resulted in a settlement Friday totaling $31.5 million from the city and county of San Diego and other groups.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the two younger sisters of Arabella McCormack, who died in August 2022. The girls were 6 and 7 years old at the time. Their adoptive mother, Leticia McCormack, and her parents, Adella and Stanley Tom, face charges of murder, conspiracy, child abuse and torture. They have pleaded not guilty to all charges and their criminal case is ongoing.
The lawsuit alleged a systematic failure within the city and across multiple agencies and organizations to fail to report abuse committed by Arabella McCormack.
The settlement includes $10 million from the city of San Diego, $10 million from San Diego County, $8.5 million from Pacific Coast Academy and $3 million from Rock Church, said the sisters’ attorney, Craig McClellan. The school supervised Arabella McCormack’s home schooling, and her adoptive mother was an ordained elder in the church.
“The amount will be enough to take care of the girls for the rest of their lives,” McClellan said. But it “will not and will never be enough… to replace their sister, nor will it erase the memories of what they experienced.”
The lawsuit says county social workers failed to properly investigate the abuse allegations and that two teachers at Pacific Coast Academy failed to report the girl’s condition. He also said a San Diego police officer, a friend of the girl’s adoptive mother, gave the family a wooden paddle with which they could beat their children.
San Diego sheriff’s deputies responded to a call of a child in distress at the McCormack home on Aug. 30, 2022. They found Arabella McCormack severely malnourished with bruises, authorities said. She was taken to hospital where she died.
Her sisters are now 9 and 11 years old and live with a foster mother. They are healthy and “doing pretty well considering all things,” McClellan said.
