Today a Los Angeles Superior Court Jury awarded $45 million to nonverbal twins with autism for harm caused by the inappropriate use of corporal punishment and aversive behavioral interventions to gain behavioral compliance. The twins were seven years old and attending school in the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District when the harm took place. The harm was compounded by the failure of the employees and administrators of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District to report the abuse to the proper authorities and law enforcement agencies thereby compounding the long term psychological and behavioral injuries suffered by the students.

The twins, who are now twelve, were represented by David German of Vanaman German LLP, and Omar Qureshi of Qureshi Law.