Hidden settlements now revealed on state portal

Some 30 previously undisclosed financial settlements paid by the state are now listed on New Mexico’s Sunshine Portal, including a $3.7 million payout earlier this year involving the death of an 11-month-old child and the abuse of her two siblings while in state foster care.

General Services Secretary Robert Doucette told the Journal that his agency, which oversees the state Risk Management Division, decided a week ago to reverse a years-old practice that routinely omitted postings of state financial settlements in cases involving minors or adults with diminished capacity.

Staff with the Legislative Finance Committee told the members in late September that some high-dollar settlements have never been reported publicly.

The finding was part of a broader program evaluation, which noted that “transparency is crucial in settlements against the government for reasons of accountability and deterrence because the knowledge that settlements will be scrutinized and made public encourages government entities to act in accordance with the law and regulations.”

State law requires the division to release the settlement amount and the name of the person receiving the settlement, if requested.

But Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s administration in mid-2019 decided to voluntarily and routinely post settlement amounts to make it easier for the public to get such information in a reasonable amount of time.

“The governor wants to be transparent on this,” Doucette told the Journal. “I just wanted to take the steps, not rush, just to make sure we did it right.”

Doucette, who became Cabinet secretary in March, told two legislative committees in recent weeks that the risk division maintained the policy to protect certain victims who received the money.

The portal states that it is the “official government transparency portal of New Mexico” but didn’t mention that not all financial settlements could be found online.

Jason Maule, legal bureau chief for the state Risk Management Division, said the 30 settlements are out of more than 700 that have been posted on the portal since 2019. The claims included violation of civil rights, medical malpractice, whistleblower retaliation, wrongful death and wrongful termination.

Of the 30 recently posted, the $3.7 million settlement against the Children, Youth and Families Department appears to be the largest. Settlements are listed by date on the portal, so it isn’t readily apparent which ones had been previously omitted.

The CYFD lawsuit also named Stephanie Crownover, a state-licensed respite care foster parent who had been the subject of prior CYFD investigations and was alleged to have a house “in deplorable and shocking condition.” She had been caring temporarily for the 11-month-old infant and the child’s siblings, then ages 1 and 2, while the children’s foster parents went out of town.

The lawsuit alleged that in late December 2017, Crownover strapped the baby into a car seat on the floor of her house to put her to sleep because she had no bed or crib. The next morning, the child was found dead.

A law enforcement investigation showed that the outside temperature had fallen below freezing overnight, there were holes in the walls and ceiling and the heater didn’t work. CYFD later substantiated that all of the children had been physically abused and neglected. The lawsuit contended that CYFD social workers and supervisors involved in the case departed from clearly established professional standards and showed a “pronounced lack of professional judgment.”

Valencia County prosecutors initially charged Crownover with felony child abuse, but then dismissed the case, online court records show.

Not all the 30 settlements involved CYFD, Maule said. The Journal has filed a public records request for records related to all 30 settlements. That request is pending.

Overall, the portal shows the biggest payouts since 2019 have involved at least five agencies, including settlements of:

• $4.1 million and $3.8 million related to a sexual assault and hazing lawsuit filed by two New Mexico State University basketball players.
• $1.5 million involving the abuse of two children in a treatment or therapeutic foster home in Farmington.
• $1.4 million involving the firing of a Corrections Department whistleblower who complained about a medical provider.
• $1 million to the estate of a woman killed in a fatal crash on Interstate 10 near Las Cruces.
• $1 million paid to the parents of three children killed by a mentally ill man released from a University Hospital psychiatric facility.
• $1 million paid in four different lawsuits filed against University of New Mexico Hospital.

Doucette said risk management officials will be providing a list of settlements from the public liability fund of more than $1,000 to state lawmakers next month. The LFC evaluation found that, despite a state requirement, such a list hadn’t been furnished since July 2020.