Moreno Valley unified to pay $27 million settlement with family of boy killed in bullying incident

Moreno Valley Unified will pay $27 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit filed in October 2019 by the family of 13-year-old Diego Stolz, who died after an attack by two classmates, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Attorneys for Diego’s aunt and uncle Juana and Felipe Salcedo said they had complained about bullying to school officials for at least a year before the incident, and district officials had given them an anti-bullying pamphlet, according to the Times.

Diego had met with his middle school vice principal, Kamilah O’Connor, in the week before his fatal attack about the bullying, after a separate incident in which he was punched in the chest. O’Connor reassured him that the bullies would be suspended for three days starting on Monday. But when Diego returned to campus, he found the bullies waiting for him, according to the Times.

The two teens who attacked Diego were charged with voluntary manslaughter and assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury, according to the Times.

Michael Marlatt, acknowledged that Diego was struck a week prior to the fatal attack, and that the district did not take steps to address the prior assault.

David Ring, an attorney for Diego’s family, told the LA Times that this is the largest bullying settlement in the United States. Still, “the family would give all the money back to have their baby, the youngest kid, back.”