Lawsuit alleges school district ignored complaints of teacher's sex abuse of 11-year-old

LOS ANGELES - The mother of a girl who was 11 years old when she was allegedly sexually abused by a teacher in 2019-20 has filed a lawsuit on her daughter's behalf against the Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District.

The complaint was filed Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court against the district and the teacher, Scott Waln, alleging unlawful sexual acts with a minor, negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and violations of the state Penal, Education and Civil codes.

The complaint seeks unspecified compensatory damages from both defendants as well as punitive damages against Waln.

A district representative could not be immediately reached for comment.

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Waln, 60, was arrested in May and was charged with one felony count of lewd act upon a child under age 14, plus one felony count of forcible lewd act upon a child under age 14.

The plaintiff was a student at Los Alisos Middle School in Norwalk. The suit states that a past school principal and other "as of yet unknown administrators, teachers and other employees" of the district knew or should have known that Waln was sexually abusing the plaintiff and other female students, "or had the propensity to do so."

The complaint further alleges that the district staff had previously referred Waln to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office for "sexually inappropriate conduct with students," but still allowed him to be alone with students in his classroom during recess and other non-instruction times.

Despite direct complaints about Waln's alleged abusive behavior at Los Alisos by the plaintiff and other girls, the school staff ignored the complaints and failed to report him to law enforcement, according to the suit.

The plaintiff has suffered "great and severe" physical and mental harm, the suit alleges.