A 2019 state law that provided survivors of childhood sexual abuse a three-year window to pursue legal remedies, no matter when the alleged abuse occurred, has resulted in another hefty settlement paid out by a California school district.
Tenisha Steen was a 16-year-old student at Valley High School in Santa Ana when she became pregnant after allegedly being statutorily raped by her sociology teacher, Gary Satrappe. Her attorneys announced Tuesday that a lawsuit she filed under the California Child Victims Act was recently settled for seven figures.
Steen, now 53, said in a statement she will "always have to live with the trauma of the sexual abuse" she endured as a student.
According to the suit, Satrappe began grooming Steen for sexual abuse in 1983, her sophomore year at Valley High. Steen said the conduct began as forced, unwanted hugs and kisses on campus, and ended with Satrappe taking her to a motel on several occasions, providing her with alcohol and engaging in sex.
Steen was raped at least 13 times, according to court documents.
Steen said the principal of Valley High at the time was aware of Satrappe's behavior toward the student. He reportedly took no action against the teacher and did not report the assaults to the police.
Steen also claimed that same principal, along withh another school employee, went to her home after the birth of her child and threatened she would "go to jail" and "likely have her child taken away" if she revealed that Satrappe was the father.
"I went to school expecting to be safe. Instead, I was robbed of my innocence by a predator that the school protected. The settlement is just one step in my long journey to heal," Steen said Tuesday.
Steen said she took the principal's threats to heart and kept quiet for many years, in part because of her race. Satrappe was white, and a well-regarded teacher in Santa Ana. Steen is Black.
The principal accused in Steen's lawsuit reportedly died in 2015.
Satrappe resigned from teaching in 1985 and died in 2004 at the age of 60. He was never disciplined nor prosecuted for his alleged crimes.
In 1990, Steen filed a civil lawsuit against Satrappe, resulting in a jury award of $275,000.
Steen was able to collect additional damages from the school district this year via the three-year window law, which will permit similar lawsuits through the end of 2022, even in cases that exceed the state's statute of limitations for allegations of sexual abuse.
According to The Orange County Register, Steen went through some "hard years" in the aftermath of the assaults and giving birth, but has since established a career, grown a family that includes three more children, and is writing a memoir with the aim of helping other survivors of childhood abuse.
Steen's sex abuse lawsuit is one of several to hit Santa Ana Unified. Earlier this year, the district quietly paid out another seven-figure settlement to the families of six boys who said they were sexually abused between 2013 and 2015 by a Segerstrom High School part-time baseball coach.
