CY PRES AWARDS

CALIFORNIA CASA ASSOCIATION IS A DESIGNATED RECIPIENT OF
CY PRES FUNDS

Court Appointed Special Advocate volunteers (CASAs) are appointed by Superior Court judges. The CASA model, established in 1977, provides CASAs for children in the court system. These dedicated and trained community members advocate for the best interests of the children and youth involved in the dependency and juvenile justice systems and provide consistent, caring adult support to them.

CASAs often provide advocacy and support congruent with the objectives of many class action suits, including education, employment, housing and financial stability, as well as medical and mental health services.

California has the largest foster care population in the nation, with about 72,000 children. Today, we have 44 local programs covering 52 of California’s 58 counties, serving more than 12,000 children with the help of almost 9,000 trained volunteers. However, this is only 17% of the children in foster care.

California Code of Civil Procedure §384 specifically identifies “child advocacy programs” as proper recipients of residual class action funds. By choosing California CASA, class action parties are ensuring justice for our most vulnerable population—abused and neglected children and youth.

California CASA has successfully utilized settlement funds to expand direct services, training resources, and provide leadership to each of the 44 local CASA programs statewide, benefiting youth who deserve to feel cared for and know that their voice matters. As the statewide association, we provide all services at no cost to the local CASA programs.

Please consider California CASA Association for your cy pres distribution. The award can be directly incorporated into the class action settlement agreement and California CASA will work with counsel to prepare the necessary documentation. Please contact our Executive Assistant Cady Villarreal at cvillarreal@californiacasa.org or call (510) 663-8440.

Recent cy pres awards include:

  • Velasquez et al vs. International Marine & Industrial Applicators LLC

  • Duong, et al. v. Loan Factory, Inc.

  • The Houston et al v Loop Transportation Inc Settlement

  • Cartwright v Sletten Construction Company

  • Chafen Suttle v. Care.Stat! Inc. DBA CareRev.

  • Senese v University of San Diego Settlement