Gammill Law Accident & Injury Lawyers: $1.5M for Child Assaulted on Special Needs Bus

Defense expert concedes: no warning given, no seating chart, no training. Gammill Law Accident & Injury Lawyers delivers $1.5M for autistic assault survivor.

TORRANCE, CA, UNITED STATES, March 1, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Gammill Law Accident & Injury Lawyers, a personal injury and civil rights firm based in Torrance, California, has secured a $1,500,000 settlement on behalf of a minor plaintiff with autism who was sexually assaulted on a special needs school bus operated by the Simi Valley Unified School District (SVUSD). The case, Doe, et al. v. Simi Valley Unified School District, et al., Ventura County Superior Court Case No. 56-2020-00539520-CU-PO-VTA, was filed on January 30, 2020. The plaintiff, a seven-year-old girl referred to as Jane Doe, was represented by attorney David Gammill and co-counsel Zack Muljat of Gammill Law Accident & Injury Lawyers.

What Happened
Jane Doe was diagnosed with autism at age three and enrolled in special education at Mountain View Elementary School within SVUSD. On February 7, 2019, she was riding home on the district's special needs bus when an older male student sexually assaulted her for nearly ten minutes. The assault was captured on video.

Discovery revealed that the Principal had placed the male student on the special needs bus specifically because he posed a physical danger to others and required constant supervision. The male student had prior incidents of unwanted touching of female students. Despite this, when the Principal assigned a substitute paraeducator as bus monitor that day, her first day in that role, the Principal gave her no information about the male student's history, no training, and no warning of any kind. The assault unfolded a few seats behind the monitor while she chatted with the bus driver.

How David Gammill Built the Case

David Gammill of Gammill Law Accident & Injury Lawyers took over the representation in September 2023 and conducted extensive discovery, retained leading experts in special education and child trauma, and ran a mock trial. Armed with a trial-ready case, Gammill secured the $1,500,000 settlement.

A turning point came on August 8, 2025, when Gammill deposed a defense expert with nearly 50 years of special education experience, retained by SVUSD's counsel, who performs 93 to 95 percent of her expert work on behalf of school districts. Through precise cross-examination, Gammill extracted concessions that dismantled the district's defense:

No warning was given. The defense expert conceded she was not aware of any specific communication from anyone at the school to the substitute monitor about the male student's risks, and agreed that if information warranted sharing, anyone on that bus should have known.

The substitute was left in the dark. The expert agreed the male student should have been kept in his own seat and confirmed the substitute had no idea — her answer on the record: "She didn't."

No good reason to skip a seating chart. Pressed repeatedly, the defense expert could not identify a single good reason not to maintain a written seating chart on a California special needs bus.

"Jane Doe came to us as a child who had been failed by every adult at her school in a position to protect her. Our job was to make sure the district couldn't minimize what happened to her just because she couldn't tell us in words how much it hurt. We built a case that spoke for her — and the district's own expert confirmed, under oath, exactly what went wrong." — David Gammill, Esq., Gammill Law Accident & Injury Lawyers, Torrance, California.

**About Gammill Law Accident & Injury Lawyers**

Gammill Law Accident & Injury Lawyers is located at 3820 Del Amo Blvd, Suite 304, Torrance, California 90503. Founded by David Gammill, Esq. (California State Bar No. 258286), the firm is known throughout Southern California as the law firm other attorneys call when it is time for trial. The firm represents individuals and families harmed by the negligence of others — including school districts, government entities, and corporations — on a contingency basis with no upfront costs.

Notable results include a $21,100,000 wrongful death verdict, a $12,000,000 whistleblower retaliation verdict, and a $16,000,000 school sex abuse verdict. The $1,500,000 settlement in Doe v. Simi Valley Unified School District reflects the firm's commitment to holding institutions accountable for the safety of California's most vulnerable children. Practice areas include school district negligence, special education civil rights, sexual abuse survivor representation, catastrophic personal injury, wrongful death, car accidents, truck accidents, and premises liability. Gammill Law Accident & Injury Lawyers serves clients throughout the South Bay, Los Angeles County, Ventura County, Orange County, and all of California. For a free consultation, contact David Gammill at (310) 750-4149, david@gammill.law, or visit www.gammill.law.

David Gammill
Gammill Law Accident & Injury Lawyers
+1 3107504149
david@gammill.law
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