Pierce County school district resolves sex-abuse claims for $21M
By Shea Johnson -- The News Tribune | Follow the link to access the online article
The University Place School District has agreed to pay $21 million to settle allegations that it failed to protect six former students from sexual abuse by a one-time district employee, according to a court filing Monday and an attorney representing the plaintiffs.
Michael Basse, who was a substitute nurse and classroom assistant in multiple schools between 2008 and 2016, faced 20 counts of child rape and child molestation for the alleged abuse of at least eight boys ranging in age from 9 to 15 during his tenure, The News Tribune previously reported.
Basse, 59, pleaded not guilty to the charges, which were dropped a day after he died by suicide in 2023.
Six former students sued the school district in 2024, accusing UPSD of negligence and gender-based discrimination in violation of Washington’s Law Against Discrimination. The lawsuit alleged that Basse used his position as a substitute employee and school chaperon to groom, sexually harass and sexually abuse the students.
Each of the plaintiffs was an alleged victim in the criminal case, according to Loren Cochran, one of the attorneys representing the former students and two parents in the lawsuit. “Resolving the civil case with the district does not take away the trauma, but it at least closes this chapter of a horribly painful part of these former students’ lives,” Cochran said in a statement Sunday to The News Tribune.
In a statement Monday, UPSD Superintendent Jeff Chamberlin said the district was “saddened” and “deeply sorry” for any abuse suffered by Basse’s victims. “We recognize the harm caused by sexual abuse and extend our sincere concern to survivors and their families,” Chamberlin said.
Defendants rejected claims
The district denied allegations of wrongdoing. In prior court-filed documents, UPSD’s legal counsel said that the vast majority of alleged sexual abuse occurred off campus and was entirely unrelated to Basse’s employment with the district.
Plaintiffs alleged that Basse sexually abused them at a Tacoma-based dojo, a dojo-sponsored summer camp, at his home or in his car, according to the district’s trial brief filed last week. Basse was an instructor at the dojo and also taught youth baseball, The News Tribune previously reported.
Three plaintiffs said they met Basse at a school and three others said they were introduced through their parents and sports teams, the trial brief said. One plaintiff alleged “actual abuse” at a school and several accused Basse of grooming them at a school, according to the filing.
“The conduct by the perpetrator alleged in this lawsuit, while awful and unacceptable, occurred primarily outside of school in private homes and in activities associated with other organizations separate from the District,” Chamberlin said in a statement. “Mr. Basse was also a parent in the District and interacted in social and recreational settings outside of school.”
Every plaintiff except for one accused Basse, who was also a health-room paraeducator, of inappropriate behavior on school grounds, according to court filings.
One plaintiff alleged that Basse masturbated him multiple times in an unidentified school’s health room. Another plaintiff accused Basse of touching the plaintiff’s crotch over his clothing in a health room and giving him alcohol at a school.
One plaintiff alleged Basse discussed sexual topics in the nurse’s office at Narrows View Intermediate School. Another plaintiff alleged Basse touched him over his clothing, on his back or his thigh, to wake him up while napping in the Curtis High School’s nurse’s office, court filings said. One plaintiff testified that Basse hugged him from behind once in the health room at Sunset Primary School and made inappropriate jokes.
The settlement, reached Sunday, also resolved claims against Seibukan Jujutsu, according to Cochran. Basse allegedly abused four of the plaintiffs at the martial-arts studio or on dojo-sponsored camping trips. Seibukan Jujutsu was sued in early 2024 and originally the only defendant, but the case was amended to add new plaintiffs and UPSD as a defendant.
Attorneys representing the dojo denied wrongdoing in a prior court-filed response to the lawsuit. Cochran said the dojo’s settlement was a small amount covered by the dojo’s insurance policy.
‘Holding institutions accountable’
The notice of settlement was filed in Pierce County Superior Court on Monday, announcing that all parties had resolved litigation on the eve of the case’s scheduled trial beginning, court records show.
Cochran, who revealed in a news release the amount that the district agreed to pay, said in the statement that the resolution “provides financial resources to help the survivors continue their recovery while holding institutions accountable for failing to protect children entrusted to their care.”
Chamberlin told The News Tribune the district agreed to resolve the lawsuit rather than go through a long and costly trial, noting the settlement was funded by the district’s insurers. School districts typically don’t pay directly, but their contributions for insurance coverage generally increase as payouts do.
“Washington’s legal landscape can make taking this type of case to trial increasingly financially uncertain, especially for public entities like school districts and in cases with co-defendants that are uninsured or underinsured,” Chamberlin said. “It is our sincere hope that this settlement helps bring some measure of resolution for the victims.”
Basse had also faced child rape and molestation charges in Grays Harbor County, The News Tribune previously reported.
He was fired in 2016 after the school district was notified by University Place police that a parent had made a complaint against him. Chamberlin previously said that neither the district nor police investigation into that matter involved any reports of inappropriate touching or physical sexual abuse.
Basse cleared standard background checks when he was hired, Chamberlin had said.
