1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 D.C., a minor by and through his Case No. 15-cv-1868-MMA (NLS) Guardian Ad Litem, HELEN GARTER, 12 ORDER ADOPTING REPORT AND Plaintiff, 13 RECOMMENDATION OF UNITED v. STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE, 14 AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO, et al., 15 Defendants. [Doc. No. 168] 16

17 GRANTING PETITION TO APPROVE MINOR’S 18 COMPROMISE 19 [Doc. No. 165] 20 21 22 Pending before the Court is Judge Linda Lopez’s Report and Recommendation, 23 Doc. No. 168, regarding Plaintiff’s petition for approval of minor’s interest in settlement, 24 Doc. No. 165 (the “Petition”). In the Petition, Helen Garter, guardian ad litem for minor 25 Plaintiff D.C., seeks an order approving a proposed settlement of D.C.’s claims against 26 all Defendants. Doc. No. 165. The Petition is unopposed. Doc. No. 167. Judge Lopez 27 has issued a thorough and well-reasoned Report recommending that the Petition be 28 granted. See Doc. No. 168. 1 Objections to the Report and Recommendation were due no later than January 6, 2 2022. Doc. No. 168 at 4. To date, no objections have been filed, and the time for doing 3 so has expired. See Docket. 4 District courts have “a special duty” to “safeguard the interests of litigants who are 5 minors.” Robidoux v. Rosengren,

(9th Cir. 2011). The Court is 6 required to limit the scope of its review to “whether the net amount distributed to [the] 7 minor plaintiff in the settlement is fair and reasonable, in light of the facts of the case, the 8 minor’s specific claim, and recovery in similar cases.”

. Pursuant to Civil 9 Local Rule 17.1: 10 11 No action by or on behalf of a minor or incompetent, or in which a minor or incompetent has an interest, will be settled, compromised, voluntarily 12 discontinued, dismissed or terminated without court order or judgment. All 13 settlements and compromises must be reviewed by a magistrate judge before any order of approval will issue. 14

15 CivLR 17.1.a. 16 The Court finds that Judge Lopez has issued an accurate Report and well-reasoned 17 recommendation. The Court concludes that the settlement amount is fair, reasonable, and 18 in the best interest of the minor Plaintiff. Accordingly, the Court ADOPTS the Report 19 and Recommendation in its entirety, GRANTS the Petition, and APPROVES the 20 Settlement as follows: 21 1. $100,000.00 made payable to Structured Assignments SCC to fund future 22 periodic payments to D.C. as outlined in Exhibit 1. Pursuant to the terms of the 23 annuity, at specified intervals, D.C. will receive lump sum payments equal to a 24 certain percentage of the account value plus proportionate index gains pursuant 25 to the Security Benefit Life Insurance Company interest crediting strategies. 26 The annuity therefore promises a guaranteed return that is not tied to the 27 28 1 performance of the stock market, plus an additional return dependent upon the 2 stock market performance. See Declaration of Marjorie Smith.! 3 2. $153,540.42 in attorneys’ fees, made payable to “The Law Office of Donnie R. 4 Cox.” 5 3. $96,459.58 in costs advanced, made payable to “The Law Office of Donnie R. 6 Cox.” 7 IT IS SO ORDERED. 8 ||Dated: January 14, 2022 9 Whikul Tl oy a tolls 10 HON. MICHAEL M. ANELLO ll United States District Judge 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 ' References to “Exhibit 1” and the “Declaration of Marjorie Smith” are attached to the Petition, Doc. No. 165, and are incorporated herein by reference.