Family of Moisés Murillo, who died after a fall at school, reaches $18 million settlement

• Both parties reached an agreement after Moisés Murillo’s tragic death.
• The family will receive an $18 million settlement.
• Little Moisés Murillo died after falling at school.

The family of Moisés Murillo, who died after suffering a fall at his school, will receive $18 million after reaching a settlement with the La Puente School District in California, their lawyers announced.

Moisés Murillo, an 8-year-old boy with Down syndrome, died after suffering an accident in his classroom at Sunset Elementary School in La Puente, California, on May 31, 2017, according to EFE, which reported on the court decision issued on Wednesday, August 17.

The tragic death of little Moisés Murillo

According to the lawsuit filed by the family, the boy was strapped to a chair when he fell backwards and hit his head on the ground during a summer class. Attorney Michael Carrillo explained at a press conference that school personnel removed the child from his specialized wheelchair and strapped him to a regular school chair.

The lawsuit alleged that the boy was left unsupervised and that the La Puente Unified School District «failed to provide him with a safe environment.» After the accident, the boy was taken to a hospital, where he died on June 4, 2017 due to spinal cord trauma, EFE reported.

Moisés Murillo’s family will receive $18 million

Roberta Murillo, Moises’ mother, said Wednesday that her son was her whole life and that she hopes that no other child or parent has to go through something like this. Attorney Michael Carrillo added that the La Puente District agreed to pay the family $18 million in restitution.

“My brother meant everything to us,” Lizbeth Murillo, the boy’s sister, told reporters Wednesday, according to NBC News. «And to this day, my mom may looks like she’s fine, but she’s not.» Even with the settlement in hand, family attorney Steve Vartazarian criticized the school district for how they managed the incident.

Settlement reached before going to trial

“We struggled for years to get some answers about what happened. And this district didn’t answer any questions about it,” Steve Vartazarian said. Instead, they tried to sweep it under the rug as if nothing had happened.

The district settled just before the case went to trial in late June, Steve Vartazarian said, according to NBC News. District board minutes from a June 30 meeting showed board members attended a closed session to hear from district legal counsel on a matter of «significant exposure to litigation.»

The school board approved the settlement

Board members approved the «litigation settlement» regarding little Moises Murillo, in a of 5-0 vote during the meeting that took place behind closed doors, according to NBC News in its report published on Thursday, August 18.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs, the estate of Moises Murillo, requested that the Los Angeles County Superior Court lawsuit be dismissed on August 1, and the court signed the petition the following day, stated the records to which NBCNews  had access.