With no end in sight to the ongoing and ever expanding Eric Uller sexual abuse case, the City of Santa Monica has adopted a newly aggressive strategy that it says is prompted by concerns over the authenticity of past and current claims.
Council has approved pursuing so-called “bellwether” cases for the current round of settlements and 14 cases have been assigned trial dates in the spring of 2027. Bellwether cases are a means of testing individual cases from a large group of claims and the public trials can be used to establish a framework for possible future settlements.
City officials said they are shifting away from automatic early settlements for several reasons, not the least of which is potential fraud.
“Because of the confluence of a number of factors – large-scale new filings; concerns about potential fraud; a breakdown in mediation, and the need for more formal evidentiary testing of claims – the City has indicated publicly that it will need to more aggressively defend the litigation moving forward,” said City Manager Oliver Chi.
According to Chi and court documents, the City’s fraud concerns stem from several sources. Most recently the Los Angeles Times reported on fraud in a large sexual abuse settlement involving the County and the City has said the story raised similar concerns about the Santa Monica case. However, the City has long had suspicions about false cases.
“Years ago, the City Attorney’s Office received an anonymous email alleging that local gang affiliates were encouraging individuals to falsely claim they were victims in exchange for a portion of anticipated settlement proceeds,” said Chi.
Those concerns have been raised in court filings and when combined with a breakdown in the traditional settlement process, City Hall has decided to take at least a sampling of the most recent cases to trial.
Santa Monica has paid about a million dollars per individual in the approximately 230 settled cases so far to victims of Eric Uller, a former civilian police employee and Police Activities League volunteer who sexually abused children for more than a decade. The settlements resolved hundreds of claims from individuals molested between 1987 and 1999, with new claims suggesting costs may continue rising.
Uller exploited his position to prey on vulnerable children, primarily Latino boys from the Pico neighborhood. He posed as a law enforcement figure, using unmarked police cars and badges to lure victims, grooming them with gifts while threatening deportation or jail for disclosure.
Warning signs appeared as early as 1995, when a PAL employee reported inappropriate behavior but was warned against “spreading gossip.” Despite multiple red flags over years—including reports of unsanctioned trips with minors and child pornography discovered on his work computer—no formal investigation occurred.
Police arrested Uller in 2018 following an anonymous tip, but he died by suicide before trial. The case ranks among the largest institutional child abuse scandals, approaching the scale of major cases like Penn State and Michigan State while placing extraordinary financial burden on a city Santa Monica’s size.
The payouts contributed to Santa Monica’s budget crisis and the city has since implemented comprehensive youth protection reforms.
However, a new round of about 180 claims have triggered additional scrutiny. According to the City, claims have been settled in the past based on plaintiff provided documentation and in person interviews. However, those interviews were not under oath.
In legal filings, the city has said the volume of claims now asserted – over 400 plaintiffs attributed to a single alleged perpetrator – has raised substantial questions about credibility and is unprecedented in comparable California cases.
At the same time ongoing mediation has broken down between the parties prompting the court action.
Plaintiff attorneys said they welcome the chance to head into court as selecting bellwether cases is a key accountability moment for the city. They said providing evidence and testimony, under oath, will expose what the City and PAL knew, when they knew it, and how failure in oversight contributed to harm.
“We welcome the selection of bellwether cases,” said Catherine Lerer, whose firm McGee Lerer Ogrin represents over half of the plaintiffs in the current round of cases. “The community will finally learn what happened, who knew what and when, and how Eric Uller was able to sexually abuse children for nearly three decades. Survivors deserve answers, and so do the residents of Santa Monica.”
However, she dismissed notions of fraud in claims.
“The City’s attention should be directed toward examining how Eric Uller was able to abuse Santa Monica’s children for almost three decades, and identifying the systemic failures that enabled his misconduct,” she said.
Chi agreed that the trials will be about accountability.
“This evolution is not a retreat from accountability to real victims, rather, it reflects the City’s responsibility to ensure that public funds are directed to individuals who were actually harmed, and not diluted by claims that may be inaccurate or fabricated,” he said.
editor@smdp.com