State settles suit over 6 abused brothers for $6.6 million

The state has settled a lawsuit for $6.55 million filed on behalf of six brothers who suffered years of sexual, physical and psychological abuse despite 33 complaints filed with Child Protective Services (CPS) over their treatment.

Blaine Tamaki, attorney for the brothers, said the children were starved and locked in closets and "endured unimaginable acts. The physical and psychological damage is almost incomprehensible."

They were so distraught that one pulled out his hair with pliers at the age of 4, and three others attempted suicide.

According to the 2009 lawsuit filed in King County Superior Court, the abuse occurred while the boys were living with their mother in Seattle in a home where drugs and alcohol were rampant. Their mother, a drug addict, neglected the children and their biological father was physically abusive, according to Tamaki.

But it was a series of the mother's boyfriends, he said, who potentially caused the most "horrific" damage to the younger children by sexually and physically abusing them for years.

The two older boys, who were not victims of sexual abuse, each received awards of $300,000, according to Tamaki's co-counsel Bryan Smith. The four younger brothers were together awarded $5.95 million, Smith said.

Tamaki said most of the 33 complaints filed with the state Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) between 1992 and 2000 were made by the boys' maternal grandmother, but there were several "serious incident" reports made by health professionals and counselors. A number of the complaints were found to have merit, Tamaki said, but no meaningful action was ever taken to protect the children.

Sherry Hill, a spokeswoman for the Children's Administration, said the caseworker who failed to appropriately follow up on the complaints left the agency years ago for unrelated reasons.

She said better protective policies and procedures have been established in the years since.

Hill said that one of the issues in the siblings' case was that there was a lot of fluidity in the boys' home life. When caseworkers, for example, attempted to investigate allegations of physical abuse by the father, they were told that the father had moved out, she said.

"Now, we look at all the adults that have interaction with the children," Hill said.

In addition, she said, CPS now uses a statewide computer database that allows caseworkers to have immediate access to a family's prior referrals and caseworkers are trained to look at the history and pattern of complaints.

The boys' maternal grandmother was awarded custody of them in 2000. Five of the six, who now range in age from 14 to 22 years, now live with her in Yakima, Tamaki said.

Tamaki said none of the adults have ever been criminally charged in connection with the case.

He said that the boys' mother is allegedly in recovery, but that there is a no-contact order between her and her children.

Christine Clarridge: 206-464-8983 or cclarridge@seattletimes.com