The daughters of a foster mother who was strangled in her Pasadena home in 2018 have settled their lawsuit against Los Angeles County in which they said the convicted killer was able to locate the victim through confidential information negligently provided by employees of the Department of Children and Family Services, the plaintiffs’ attorney told a judge.
Lorie Hope and Tanya Juhasz filed the long-running wrongful death suit in December 2019. Their mother, 75-year-old Jeri Douglas, was found dead inside her condominium on the 200 block of South Madison Avenue by police performing a welfare check on Dec. 17, 2018.
According to an order issued after a Tuesday status conference by the clerk for Alhambra Superior Court Judge Joel Lofton, the plaintiffs’ attorney informed the court that the case was resolved, but no terms were divulged. Another status conference is scheduled for July 9.
Mary Jean O’Connor, now 46, was arrested in North Hollywood in late December 2018 in connection with Douglas’ death and was convicted of first-degree murder by a Pasadena Superior Court jury in November. A month later she was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
In their court papers, attorneys for the county wrote that it is “an axiom” of California law that government entities are not liable in such cases unless provided for by law, and that the county had no liability.
“Plaintiffs contend … that the DCFS provided unspecified contact information for Jeri Douglas to O’Connor, who used that information to murder Douglas … but Douglas’ name, telephone number and address are available to the public by means of a free Google search and multiple paid directories,” the county lawyers maintained.
According to the suit, aside from Douglas’ “premature, tragic, and unnecessary death, DCFS’ apparent failure to protect its foster parents is a violation of the public trust and unreasonably puts some of Los Angeles’ most vulnerable children and most…
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