> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Murder victim’s parents settle civil suit - URL: https://www.smdp.com/murder-victims-parents-settle-civil-suit/ - Published: 2003-11-14T16:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T03:14:23.000Z - Author: Carolyn Sackariason - Tags: Crime, Westwood, #archive-import *Marans shifting their focus to father of Deanna’s killer* A local couple has settled their lawsuit against the mother of a teenager who murdered their 15-year-old daughter. The $300,000 settlement comes just a week before the two-year anniversary of Deanna Maran’s death on Nov. 17, 2001\. Maran, a sophomore at Santa Monica High School, was stabbed by 17-year-old Katrina Sarkissian after she got into an altercation with Sarkissian’s half-sister at an unsupervised house party in Westwood attended by teenagers. The agreement also comes a week after a Santa Monica judge had ruled that Katrina Sarkissian’s mother, Angelique Bernstein, should stand trial in the civil case. The judge noted Bernstein may have had knowledge of her daughter’s emotional instability and her propensity for violence, and may have had the ability to control her because she was the legal guardian. A jury was to hear the civil suit, filed by the Marans, next month. Katrina Sarkissian died of a drug overdose while being questioned by the LAPD the day after the episode. The judge dismissed the Marans’ lawsuit against Katrina Sarkissian’s father, Sarkis Sar-kissian, saying he had no opportunity to control his daughter on the night of the murder and didn’t have firsthand knowledge of his daughter’s violent tendencies. However, that dismissal is being appealed by the Marans, and the settlement doesn’t apply to it. Deanna Maran’s parents, Ilja and Harriet Maran, sued the Sarkissian parents on the premise that they should have done something about what they knew to be their daughter’s violent proclivities. Tony Glassman, the Marans’ attorney, said the case was settled because it appears that Bernstein is financially insolvent. “The indication from court records is that she has severe financial problems,” he said. “We did not feel that to try the case for a substantial amount of money was worth the time, energy and focus because who knows if we would ever be able to collect it.” Bernstein’s attorney, Paul Ash, said settling the case represented better odds than going to trial. “I think the law favored my client,” he said. “But you never know what a jury will do.” Despite the judge’s ruling, the focus for the Marans is still Sarkis Sarkissian, a Glendale businessman who apparently holds substantial assets. Glassman said he plans to appeal Santa Monica Superior Court Judge Linda Lefkowitz’s dismissal. “We think we can prevail in the appeals court against Mr. Sarkissian because he had equal control over his daughter with his ex-wife,” Glassman said. “He knew virtually everything Mom did, or at least that is what the record shows.” Katrina Sarkissian and her 15-year-old half-sister were being questioned by Los Angeles Police detectives about their roles in the murder when the older sister went into a seizure and died a few hours later. Katrina Sarkissian, a high school dropout, was described in court as a teenager who was “spinning out of control” and had a drug and alcohol abuse problem. Since the eighth grade, she had been kicked out of at least one private school, had been placed in a therapeutic residential school in Utah and had been in numerous fights with other girls, according to court documents. Testimony from officials at Harvard Westlake, a private school Katrina Sarkissian once attended, show that she harassed other girls there, made verbal threats and menacing gestures, and tried to intimidate them. She was being home-schooled by Bernstein at her Brentwood house at the time of the murder. California law requires proof that Katrina Sarkissian’s parents knew she could be violent, and could control her. “There has to be a nexus between a specific trait and the conduct,” Judge Lefkowitz said during a court hearing last month. “The zone of notice has to have some relationship to the crime committed.” Sarkis Sarkissian’s attorney, Lori Levin-Borcorver, said she plans to respond to the Marans’ appeal and is confident her client will be vindicated. “I think the decision stands on its own,” she said. “The judge put a great deal of time, thought, effort and research into all of her decisions in this case and it was the correct one.” In her ruling, Judge Lefkowitz said Bernstein had enough knowledge of her daughter’s problems that she might have been able to foresee the behavior getting more violent. But Sarkis Sarkissian didn’t because he didn’t have custody of her and appeared to be an absentee parent. However, Glassman argues that Sarkis Sarkissian still knew about his daughter’s problems — so much so that he selected the therapeutic school in Utah, paid for the treatment, visited her and was in contact with therapists there, according to court testimony. “He had an obligation to control his daughter; he had the same duty as Angelique,” Glassman said, adding he will file the appeal within a week and expects a decision from the California Court of Appeals next year. Harriet Maran, who plans to host a small gathering for Deanna Maran’s friends at her Ocean Park home Monday — the two-year anniversary of her death — said she has mixed feelings about the settlement. The Maran family’s goal through the lawsuits was to bring awareness to the issue of violence in society and parents’ role in teaching their children important values, such as life. Harriet Maran said the settlement can be viewed as an admission of a lack of responsibility on Bernstein’s part and it can be used as a precedent for similar situations in the future. However, no amount of money will bring back Deanna Maran — a bubbly teenager, honor student and athlete. “You have these parents that have more than enough means to raise their children, but their priorities are all screwed up and twisted,” Harriet Maran told the Daily Press two months after the murder. “To me it’s a tedious fight to try to straighten these kids out to be good adults. This is a degenerate society. These kids are on auto pilot.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/111403-01_01.jpg) A couple warily ascends the steps near Montana Avenue towards Palisades Park on Thursday. (Photo: Del Pastrana/Daily Press) *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 14, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/111403.pdf?ref=smdp.com)