Price of Diego Stolz's Life: Family of schoolboy beaten to death by bullies gets payout, but not justice
MORENO VALLEY, CALIFORNIA: A whopping $27 million settlement was declared on Wednesday, September 23, in a lawsuit resulting from the 2019 death of 13-year-old Diego Stolz, who was fatally assaulted by two classmates at Landmark Middle School in Moreno Valley.
According to a press release from the family's attorneys, Stolz's legal guardians, aunt Juana and uncle Felipe Salcedo, were supposed to receive the wrongful death payment against the Moreno Valley Unified School District, as per Daily Mail.
The week before Stolz died, his bullies had harassed him, but instead of suspending them as promised, the school's principal set them free, allowing them to kill Stolz days later.
A $27 million settlement was reached in a lawsuit stemming from the 2019 death of Diego Stolz, who was fatally beaten by two fellow students at their school.
— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) September 13, 2023
In 2021, Riverside County Superior Court judge ruled that the two 14-year-olds would not go to jail but were ordered to… pic.twitter.com/4Ukz48O1VC
The Moreno Valley Unified School District was sued for wrongful death on behalf of Stolz's legal guardians, Juana and Felipe Salcedo.
The family's lawyer Dave Ring stated in a press release that although the death of Stolz left the family "forever heartbroken," they hoped that this case would spur change in educational systems everywhere.
The statement reads, "Schools need to realize that bullying can never be tolerated and that any complaints of bullying and assault must be taken seriously. Diego's death was preventable if this school had simply prioritized an anti-bullying policy."
Diego Stolz died in September 2019
On September 16, 2019, two 14-year-old boys were seen on camera assaulting Stolz outside the school's classrooms, as per ABC7.
Stolz can be seen in the video being struck in the head from behind by one of the boys and getting his head struck against a pillar.
The two youths then carried on pounding Stolz as he lay on the ground. Nine days later, he died from a head injury after losing consciousness and never regaining it.
In a shocking turn of events, the distraught family later discovered that Stolz's killers would not go to prison.
Family attorney Neil Gehlawat claimed the family reported the bullying to Kamilah O'Connor, the assistant principal at the time, who gave them the assurance that the boys would be punished.
However, the two boys were still present on the first day of classes after the incident, and one of them killed the 13-year-old Stolz.
"She certainly made a promise to the family and did not follow through with that," Gehlawat added.
What happened to Diego Stolz's bullies?
The boys pleaded the equivalent of entering a guilty plea to involuntary manslaughter and assault with force - likely to result in serious bodily harm - in juvenile court in 2020.
The two 14-year-olds were spared jail time in the spring of 2021, but as part of their probation, the Riverside County Superior Court judge ordered them to go to anger management counseling.
After being held in juvenile detention for 47 days, the teens were returned to their parents' custody.
Juana Salcedo, who had raised Stolz to not retaliate against bullies, stated during the sentencing that she felt the school administration had let her down.
Gehlawat further stated that "his [Diego Stolz] death was entirely preventable if administrators at his middle school has done their jobs." However, per Gehlawat, they failed to perform their duties.
The lawyer went on to say that Stolz's circumstances were caused by a total breakdown in communication among the school administration.
What happened to assistant principal Kamilah O'Connor?
Attorney Gehlawat noted referring to school principal O'Connor, "One of the assistant principals had information about Diego being bullied and assaulted, and she did not share that information with her fellow administers, the other vice principal and the principal at the school, and on the day Diego was fatally assaulted she was not at school that day."
O'Connor and the school's then-principal, Scott Walker, were replaced six weeks after the deadly incident, however, O'Connor still seems to be employed by the school system.
Gehlaway claimed that as a condition of the settlement, the school system had committed to more training and updated procedures for how administrators and teachers should handle bullying.
Diego Stolz's family received 'the largest bullying settlement in the United States'
After his mother and father died, Stolz was raised by his aunt and uncle starting when he was a small child.
Now Stolz's family has obtained a $27 million settlement amount that the victim's attorneys referred to as "the largest bullying settlement in the United States."
According to the news release, Assembly Bill 2445 was passed by the California Legislature in September 2020.
Assembly Bill 2445 was "inspired by Diego's tragic death and clarified that legal guardians have standing to bring suit in civil claims involving a minor whose death may have stemmed from a wrongful or negligent act, but only if the child's natural parents are deceased."
The lawsuit that led to the significant payment claimed that the Moreno Valley Unified School District neglected to take action after learning that Stolz was being bullied.
Martinrx Kedziora, the superintendent of the Moreno Valley school district, made a vow to implement reform in the district after Stolz tragically died in 2019 to avoid repeating similar unfortunate events.