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Redlands Unified sexual abuse claimsConfidential. No fee unless we recover.

You can read this page without contacting anyone, reach us without giving a name, and nothing happens until you say so. Redlands Unified has settled repeated abuse suits, and a news investigation found it failed for decades to report accused employees. If this happened to you or your child, you can still bring a claim, in confidence.

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Josh Kohanim, Esq.Written and reviewed by Josh Kohanim, Esq., California Bar No. 328609 · Published · Reviewed

In this guide

The record at Redlands Unified

Laura Whitehurst was a Redlands Unified high school teacher and girls' soccer coach. In August 2013 she was sentenced to a year in county jail for sexually abusing a former student. In September 2025 the district settled for $1.4 million with a former student who sued in October 2022. The source says his abuse began in 2007, when he was 14. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every case depends on its own facts.

Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every case depends on its own facts.
What happenedOutcomeDateSource
Whitehurst's abuse of a student beginning in 2007$1.4 million settlementSeptember 2025Haas Unlimited
Three suits over Whitehurst, the first for $6 million in 2016$9.65 million combined2016 to 2025Haas Unlimited
All abuse suits by one law firm since 2016More than $50 million paid2016 to 2025Haas Unlimited

Status of the cases

The Whitehurst suits are resolved. The wider record matters more for a new claim. A two-year investigation begun in 2018 by the Southern California News Group found that Redlands Unified, "for decades, frequently failed to report to authorities teachers and other employees accused of grooming and sexually abusing students." Source: Haas Unlimited. California's mandated reporter law, Penal Code section 11166, requires a school employee who knows or reasonably suspects abuse to report it by telephone immediately or as soon as practicably possible, with a written report within 36 hours. Failure to report is a misdemeanor. Whether staff reported, and when, is often the center of a civil claim against a district. A pattern of not reporting can be evidence of what a district did with what it knew.

Filing deadlines

Two tracks apply to abuse at a Redlands Unified school. For conduct on or after January 1, 2024, there is no time limit; AB 452 wrote that into Code of Civil Procedure section 340.1(p). For earlier conduct, the AB 218 rules apply. A survivor may file until age 40, or within five years of discovering that an adult psychological injury was caused by the abuse, whichever is later. Survivors 40 and older must file certificates of merit from an attorney and a licensed mental health practitioner. No government claim is required. Government Code section 905(m) exempts childhood sexual assault claims, so the six-month claim deadline for other injury cases against a district does not apply. SB 577 passed the Legislature at the end of August 2026 and awaited the Governor as of September 23, 2026. It may change the rules for older claims. Our statute of limitations page tracks it.

District responsibility

A district answers for its employees. Government Code section 815.2(a) makes a public entity liable for an employee's act or omission within the scope of employment. In C.A. v. William S. Hart Union High School District (2012) 53 Cal.4th 861, the California Supreme Court held that a district can be liable for administrators who negligently hired, kept or supervised an abusive employee. School personnel must use reasonable measures to protect students from foreseeable injury. In Doe v. Lawndale Elementary School District (2021), the Court of Appeal held that this duty does not depend on proof that the district knew of prior misconduct. Whether administrators responded reasonably to warning signs is a jury question. Section 340.1 allows up to treble damages for a proved cover-up, but in Los Angeles Unified School District v. Superior Court (2023) the California Supreme Court held that public districts do not pay them.

A confidential first step

A Jane Doe or John Doe filing is common in these cases. Courts commonly allow it, and we will ask whether you want one. You do not have to face the abuser to bring a claim. Nothing you tell us is shared without your say. No fee unless we recover. If there is no recovery, you owe no fee and no case costs. Spanish-speaking staff answer the phone. The wider Riverside and San Bernardino record is on our Inland Empire page; the law for every district is on our California school sexual abuse lawyer page.

Records to gather

You do not need documents to make a first call, but they help. For an adult survivor: the school, the years, and the adult's role; yearbooks, report cards, photos or messages that place you there; the names of friends who knew. Do not contact the abuser or the district, and do not post details online. Our before you call checklist walks through it. For a parent: write down what your child said, in their words, with the date; keep messages and devices; ask the school for its written policy and its Title IX coordinator's name. Our after your child tells you checklist covers each step.

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Sources cited

Frequently asked questions

Can I bring a claim against Redlands Unified if I never reported the abuse at the time?
Yes. A claim does not depend on a report made at the time. Many survivors tell no one for years. The AB 218 rules allow filing until age 40, or within five years of discovering that an adult psychological injury came from the abuse, whichever is later, and conduct on or after January 1, 2024 has no time limit. The question for the district is what its staff knew and did, not whether you spoke up then.
Does it matter that the teacher was already convicted?
It helps, but it is not the claim. A conviction settles what the abuser did. A civil claim against the district asks a different question: whether school personnel took reasonable measures to protect students from foreseeable harm. Under Doe v. Lawndale, the district need not have known of prior misconduct for that duty to apply. Records of complaints, transfers and reports are what an attorney looks for.
My abuse was by a different Redlands Unified employee, not Whitehurst. Does this record still matter?
It may. The news investigation described the district's reporting failures over decades, not one teacher. What matters in your claim is what the district knew about the person who harmed you and what it did. Every case depends on its own facts. If you tell us the school and the years, without your name if you prefer, an attorney can say whether the record helps.
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