A jury ruled Oct. 10 in favor of two former Vista Heights Middle School students who said they were molested by their teacher, Thomas Lee West.
The plaintiffs claimed they were molested from 1996 to 1999, while they were in sixth, seventh and eighth grade. West began teaching sixth grade in 1996, according to their complaint. He was hired despite having pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of child molestation and serving 120 days in jail. He originally faced 10 counts of felony child molestation against his foster son, but pleaded it down, the complaint said.
“While there is no amount of money that can replace what was stolen from these two men, we are grateful to the jury for holding the Moreno Valley Unified School District accountable for their unconscionable acts that robbed these men of their childhood,” plaintiffs’ attorney Spencer Lucas said in a statement.
Follow Our Courts has reached out to the school district and their attorneys for comment.
The complaint goes on to say that West would have “wrestling parties” at his school, and that he would invite students back to his house, where he would fondle and take photographs.
West was charged with nine felony counts of child molestation and one felony count of sexual assault of a minor with force in 2004, case records show. He was found guilty of all charges in 2006. He received 52 years to life, according to an appellate ruling in his case. State records show West is held at Mule Creek State Prison, south-west of Sacramento. He is eligible for parole in 2026.
West had started dating the mother of one of the boys he molested, and eventually moved in with him, according to the appellate ruling. At trial, that boy said he was molested more than 300 times over three years.
West was caught when one of the boys told his father about the molestation, who then told the police. The appellate ruling said he was concerned that his younger brother, who was in West’s class, might also be molested. The other boy then spoke to the police after reading about the charges in the newspaper.
The complaint brought claims of negligence, and negligent hiring, training, supervision and retention. West is not named as a defendant in the amended complaint.
The jury took five hours to come to their verdict.
They found one plaintiff to have $30 million in past non-economic damages, and $25 million in future non-economic damages. They found the other had $50 million in past non-economic damages, and $30 million in future non-economic damages.
They also found the school district 90% responsible for their harm, and West 10% responsible.
An anonymized plaintiff brought his own complaint (CVRI2205483) alleging child sexual abuse against West, the Department of Children and Family Services and Riverside County Dec. 16. That case has not yet been resolved. It claims that he was placed in West’s home in 1993.
Both cases are able to be brought so long after the abuse because California has been extending the statute of limitations for child sex abuse claims. Under current law, child sex abuse claims can be brought until the plaintiff is 40 years old, or within five years of the date they discovered that psychological illness was caused by the assault. On Oct. 10, Newsom signed Assembly Bill 452, which removes the statute of limitations for civil child sex abuse cases. The bill, however, does not retroactively apply to every instance of child sexual assault. It will only apply to assaults that happened after 2024.
Brian Panish, Spencer Lucas and Matthew Freeman of Los Angeles’ Panish Shea & Boyle represented the former students.
Dana McCune and Dominic Quiller of Los Angeles’ McCune & Harber represented the school district.
Case No. CVRI2102718
Read the appeal to West’s criminal case here.
Read the amended complaint here.
Read the verdict here.
