K.D., a minor, by and through his Guardian ad Litem, LaQuantae Davis v. CALIBER CHANGEMAKERS, et al.

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. California
DecidedOctober 14, 2025
Docket2:23-cv-00083
StatusUnknown

This text of K.D., a minor, by and through his Guardian ad Litem, LaQuantae Davis v. CALIBER CHANGEMAKERS, et al. (K.D., a minor, by and through his Guardian ad Litem, LaQuantae Davis v. CALIBER CHANGEMAKERS, et al.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
K.D., a minor, by and through his Guardian ad Litem, LaQuantae Davis v. CALIBER CHANGEMAKERS, et al., (E.D. Cal. 2025).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 K.D., a minor, by and through his No. 2:23-cv-00083-DJC-JDP Guardian ad Litem, LAQUANTAE 12 DAVIS, 13 Plaintiff, ORDER 14 v. 15 CALIBER CHANGEMAKERS, et al., 16 Defendants. 17 18 19 Plaintiff K.D., a minor, by and through his mother, LaQuantae Davis, as his 20 guardian ad litem, filed this action against certain Defendants alleging he was bullied, 21 threatened, sexually abused, and sexually assaulted by other students while enrolled 22 in the fourth grade at Caliber ChangeMakers Academy. The parties reached a 23 settlement agreement, and Plaintiff filed a Motion to Approve Settlement of Minor’s 24 Claims (ECF No. 105), which is unopposed by any party. For the reasons set forth 25 below, the Motion is granted in part. 26 //// 27 //// 28 //// 1 BACKGROUND 2 Plaintiff K.D. was born on July 20, 2012, to his mother, LaQuantae Davis. (First 3 Amended Compl. (“FAC”) (ECF No. 22) ¶ 16.) Plaintiff was diagnosed with a disability, 4 including Speech and Language Impairment, which qualified him for special 5 education services. (Id. ¶ 5.) At the time of the alleged events, Plaintiff was a fourth- 6 grade student at Caliber ChangeMakers Academy (“CCA”), a public charter school 7 operating under the authority of Caliber Public Schools and the oversight of Vallejo 8 Unified School District. (Id. ¶¶ 6, 18.) Rachael Weingarten was CCA’s Head of Schools 9 and Aisha Ford was CCA’s principal. (Id. ¶¶ 10–11.) During the 2021–2022 school 10 year, Plaintiff was allegedly bullied, threatened, sexually abused, and sexually 11 assaulted by student K.J.W. and other students on the CCA campus during school 12 hours. (Id. ¶¶ 25, 31.) According to the FAC, the students harassed and teased 13 Plaintiff about his speech impediment, stole his backpack, chased him into the 14 bathrooms, and made fun of his disabilities. (Id. ¶ 26.) Student K.J.W. also allegedly 15 fondled Plaintiff’s genitals, forced a pencil and his fingers into Plaintiff’s buttocks and 16 squeezed Plaintiff’s penis. (Id. ¶ 29.) Plaintiff alleges that Defendants knew he was 17 more likely to be targeted by virtue of his disabilities and more vulnerable to suffering 18 detrimental effects. (Id. ¶ 28.) As a result of the alleged abuse, Plaintiff purportedly 19 sustained severe emotional distress, psychological injuries, severe anxiety, depression 20 and emotional trauma, among other injuries. (Id. ¶ 40.) Plaintiff’s family has allegedly 21 observed acute and significant changes in Plaintiff’s behaviors including frequent flash 22 backs at school, intense feelings of self-harm, suicidal ideation, and loss of interest in 23 activities he previously enjoyed. (Id. ¶ 41.) 24 Plaintiff initiated this action on January 13, 2023. (ECF No. 1.) In the FAC, 25 Plaintiff named CCA, Rachael Weingarten, Aisha Ford, Caliber Public Schools, Vallejo 26 City Unified School District, and Does 1–50 as Defendants. (See generally FAC.) 27 Vallejo City Unified School District was dismissed from the action on December 9, 28 2024. (ECF No. 78.) After prolonged litigation, Plaintiff filed a notice of settlement on 1 August 4, 2025. (ECF No. 101.) On September 23, 2025, Plaintiff filed a Motion to 2 Approve Settlement of Minor’s Claims. (Mot. (ECF No. 105).) Following the parties’ 3 joint stipulation, the Court took the matter under submission pursuant to Local Rule 4 230(g). (ECF Nos. 107–08.) 5 LEGAL STANDARD 6 No claim by or against a minor or incompetent person may be settled or 7 compromised absent an order by the Court approving the settlement or compromise. 8 E.D. Cal. R. 202(b). The Local Rules require that the motion for approval of a 9 proposed minor's compromise disclose, among other things: (1) the age and sex of 10 the minor, (2) the nature of the causes of action to be settled or compromised, (3) the 11 facts and circumstances out of which the causes of action arose, including the time, 12 place and persons involved, (4) the manner in which the compromise amount or other 13 consideration was determined, including such additional information as may be 14 required to enable the Court to determine the fairness of the settlement or 15 compromise amount, and (5) if a personal injury claim, the nature and extent of the 16 injury with sufficient particularity to inform the Court whether the injury is temporary or 17 permanent. See E.D. Cal. R. 202(b)(2). 18 Furthermore, the Ninth Circuit held in Robidoux v. Rosengren, 638 F.3d 1177, 19 1181 (9th Cir. 2011) that Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 17(c) imposes a “special 20 duty” on district courts approving a minor's compromise. “[T]his special duty requires 21 a district court to ‘conduct its own inquiry to determine whether the settlement serves 22 the best interests of the minor.’” Id. (citations omitted). However, this “special duty” 23 has a limited scope of review, asking only “whether the net amount distributed to each 24 minor plaintiff is fair and reasonable . . . without regard to the proportion of the total 25 settlement value designated for adult co-plaintiffs or plaintiffs’ counsel.” Id. at 1182. 26 “If the net recovery of each minor plaintiff under the proposed settlement is fair and 27 reasonable, the district court should approve the settlement as presented[] . . . .” Id. 28 In making this determination, “courts typically consider such information as the 1 relative worth of the settlement amount, the circumstances of the settlement, 2 counsel's explanation of their views and experiences in litigating these types of 3 actions, and other, similar compromises that have been approved by courts.” Rivett v. 4 United States, No. 2:21-CV-00717-DAD-AC, 2023 WL 4238909, at *2 (E.D. Cal. 5 June 28, 2023) (collecting cases where the procedural posture was considered, the 6 fact that the settlement occurred at a court-supervised settlement conference was 7 considered, and other compromises were considered). 8 Plaintiff asserts a variety of state and federal law claims against Defendants. 9 Although the Ninth Circuit expressly limited its holding to “cases involving the 10 settlement of a minor's federal claims[,]” Robidoux, 638 F.3d at 1179 n.2, where, as 11 here, a court is exercising supplemental jurisdiction over state law claims, courts will 12 apply the Robidoux standard to all of the claims, see Calderon v. United States, 13 No. 1:17-cv-00040-BAM, 2020 WL 3293066, at *3 (E.D. Cal. Jun. 18, 2020) (collecting 14 cases). 15 DISCUSSION 16 I. Proposed Settlement 17 The parties intend that the proposed settlement will resolve and dismiss with 18 prejudice all claims brought by Plaintiff against Defendants CCA, Rachael Weingarten, 19 Aisha Ford, and Caliber Public Schools. (Prop. Order (ECF No. 105-1) ¶ 5.) In August 20 2025, the parties reached a tentative settlement amount of $1,500,000. (Mot. ¶ 3.) 21 CCA agrees to make the payment as follows: 22 1. A cash payment of $753,254.18 to Plaintiff, his mother, and Plaintiff’s 23 counsel in the following amounts: 24 a. $140,286.27 for costs advanced by Plaintiff’s counsel; 25 b. $453,237.91 for attorneys’ fees; 26 c. $130,000 to fund a designated special needs trust, Legacy 27 Enhancement Minor’s Master Pooled Trust (“Trust”), for Plaintiff’s 28 benefit; and 1 d. $30,000 to Plaintiff’s mother, LaQuantae Davis, acting as guardian ad 2 litem. 3 2. A check in the amount of $746,745.82 to the Trustee of the Trust to fund the 4 purchase of a structured settlement annuity by United of Omaha Life 5 Insurance Company for Plaintiff’s benefit. The annuity funds will be paid into 6 the Trust pursuant to a specified payment schedule: 7 a. $1,000 payable monthly, guaranteed for 4 years, beginning on 8 February 1, 2026, with the last guaranteed payment on January 1, 9 2030; 10 b.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Esquilin-Mendoza v. DON KING PRODUCTIONS, INC.
638 F.3d 1 (First Circuit, 2011)
Sakiyama v. AMF Bowling Centers, Inc.
1 Cal. Rptr. 3d 762 (California Court of Appeal, 2003)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
K.D., a minor, by and through his Guardian ad Litem, LaQuantae Davis v. CALIBER CHANGEMAKERS, et al., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kd-a-minor-by-and-through-his-guardian-ad-litem-laquantae-davis-v-caed-2025.