CYFD settles wrongful death case for $4.9 million
Boy, 4, killed by mother’s roommate in 2019
The state Children, Youth and Families Department has agreed to pay $4.9 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit involving the beating death of a 4-yearold Albuquerque child whose slaying in 2019 cemented efforts to try to reform the troubled child welfare agency.
The lawsuit filed by the estate of James Dunklee Cruz is one of seven settled out of court in late 2023 involving alleged malfeasance by CYFD. But the state Risk Management Division doesn’t have the funds to pay the total $16.9 million required for the payouts, the state Senate Finance Committee was told Tuesday.
The boy was beaten to death on Dec. 10, 2019 by his mother’s roommate while she was at work.
Court records show CYFD responded to multiple prior referrals that James was being neglected and abused prior to his slaying, including an incident in which he was taken to urgent care with multiple injuries two months earlier. But agency supervisors opted not to remove him from his mother, for possible placement into foster or alternative care. Instead, they set up a “safety plan” with his mother, Krista Cruz, to try to ensure he was protected.
“We believe this resolution demonstrates the strength of the estate’s civil rights claims,” said attorneys Sara S. Crecca and Rachel Berenson, who represented the estate. “James was a beautiful, bright soul who deserved protection from (agency) investigators mandated by law to intervene in cases exactly like this.”
Lawsuits filed in federal and state court faulted in part a “flawed” safety and risk assessment tool used by CYFD investigators to help determine if a child found to have been abused or neglected is at risk of potential harm.
CYFD opted to allow James to stay with his single mother because the safety plan required that she not return to live with her son at an apartment with her two roommates, Zerrick Marquez and
Pamela Esparza. Marquez is serving a life prison sentence after pleading guilty to child abuse resulting in death. Esparza was sentenced to 13 years in prison after pleading guilty to child abuse and other charges.
Krista Cruz is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty last year to child abuse charges.
“We call on CYFD to make profound changes, including creating an investigation system with internal controls as well as significant independent oversight — one that does not exclusively rely on a flawed safety and risk assessment tool,” the attorneys said in a statement.
The state lawsuit brought by the estate was set to go to trial in February. The estate would include Cruz’s older son, who is with his father’s family.
The settlements were revealed during a state General Services Department budget hearing, in which the agency is seeking a special appropriation of $20 million because there aren’t enough funds in the current budget to make the payouts from last year.
The case was listed as among seven pending settlements filed against CYFD in a report to the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday morning.
Other settlements reported to the Senate Finance Committee included $2.4 million reached in December 2023 on a claim involving a mother and grandmother charged in a 12-year-old boy’s death.