Thomas Valva case: $9 million settlement reached in lawsuit in death of 8-year-old boy, lawyer confirms

Suffolk County has reached a $9 million settlement agreement with the mother of Thomas Valva, an 8-year-old boy who died of hypothermia after being forced to sleep in his father's Center Moriches garage in January 2020 when temperatures hovered around 19 degrees, her attorney confirmed Thursday .

 A federal court filing Thursday morning showed Justyna Zubko-Valva reached a "global settlement" that would bring to a close a five-year lawsuit with the county, several of its employees, the local school district, and the father and his fiancee whom Suffolk juries found guilty of the boy’s murder.

The settlement was reached following several mediation sessions, court records show. A mediation report is due to the court by Oct. 8.

"The county cannot comment on proposed settlements," said Michael Martino, director of communications for Suffolk County Executive Edward P. Romaine.

Zubko-Valva had rejected a $3 million settlement offer from Suffolk County after she learned it would cover all defendants in the case, according to a letter she filed with the court on her own behalf in November 2023. At that time, she said she would be willing to settle the case for $30 million after initially seeking $200 million.

Her attorney, Thomas Bosworth, of Philadelphia, told Magistrate Judge Arlene Lindsay his client would settle for $10 million earlier this year.  Bosworth confirmed the $9 million figure Thursday evening and said his client has suffered a "traumatic ordeal" in a statement sent through the law firms representing her.

“This resolution underscores the importance of working together with legislators to bring meaningful reforms to protect our children,” the statement from Bosworth DeAngelo and Liakis Law read. “Unfortunately the tragedy that occurred, while we can’t bring him back, will hopefully be a step in the right direction to protect other children.”  

Zubko-Valva, who did not answer a phone number on file with the court, asked followers on social media to pray for her that a settlement could be reached earlier this week.

Lindsay ordered mediation in the case in April after previous efforts to settle stalled, noting the mom had not fully participated in those earlier discussions.

Records show the new mediation began in July and was extended Sept. 15 as settlement talks were ongoing.

While settlements in Suffolk County must be approved by the legislature’s Ways and Means Committee, they are typically agreed to in principle before a resolution is drafted. Legis. Robert Trotta (R-Fort Solonga), the chair of that committee, did not respond to a phone message seeking comment. Ways and Means next meets Oct. 9.

Zubko-Valva was going through a bitter divorce proceeding and custody battle with former NYPD Officer Michael Valva at the time of their son’s death. Two Suffolk juries found Thomas died when Valva and his fiancee, Angela Pollina, forced him and his brother, Anthony, both of whom authorities said were diagnosed on the autism spectrum, to sleep in the unheated garage as temperatures outside fell to 19 degrees.

The lawsuit named as defendants Suffolk County and seven Child Protective Services supervisors and investigators; Valva and Pollina; several attorneys and law offices involved in the placement of the children, and the East Moriches school district and administrators. Zubko-Valva and her surviving children were listed as the complainants.

The complaint, which a previous attorney for Zubko-Valva filed in June 2020, alleged the boy's death was "not only foreseeable, but completely preventable" following years of reports the mother made regarding the abuse.

"For over three years ... Zubko Valva begged, implored and pleaded with [the defendants] to remove Tommy, as well as his two brothers, Anthony and Andrew, from the custody of {Valva and Pollina] who had abused, starved and tortured the children for years," the initial complaint reads. "The defendants did nothing."

The lawsuit sought damages for claims of deliberate indifference, malicious prosecution, denial of right to a fair trial, and violations of civil rights and due process.

Prosecutors described the Valva and Pollina home on Bittersweet Lane as a "house of horrors." There were no mattresses, no beds, no pillows or blankets in the garage where Thomas slept for the last time, according to the evidence presented in the 2022 and 2023 murder trials. That evidence, including text messages between the pair, depicted Pollina as the driving force behind the punishment, but jurors found Pollina and Valva "acted in concert" to cause Thomas' death.

In video from a home surveillance system Pollina controlled that was displayed during the trials, the boys shivered in freezing temperatures. Pollina often sent video clips of the boys in the garage to Valva via text message while he worked overnight shifts, complaining of the boys’ behavior and urging Valva to take action, trial evidence showed.

At times, Valva told Pollina he wanted his sons back in the house, but Pollina refused, telling Valva to move out if he disapproved of the arrangement. Valva felt he couldn't leave, his attorneys have said, because he was facing financial issues due to the pending divorce and custody fight.

Thomas and Anthony appeared to be starving during most of their time at East Moriches Elementary School, their teachers testified, adding they also came to school with bruises, cuts and other injuries. The teachers and school officials called Child Protective Services many times, including a group effort to "flood" a CPS reporting line, but the boys remained living with Valva and Pollina, testimony at the trial showed.

A special grand jury impaneled by Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney found caseworkers in charge of protecting Thomas Valva shielded themselves from public review of their actions — and potential criminal charges — due to confidentiality laws that must be reformed, according to the report, which stopped short of recommending criminal charges for those workers.

Instead, the grand jury issued a number of recommendations, including amending a state law that shields unfounded CPS reports from grand juries and district attorneys, the report says.

The grand jury noted CPS, a division of the Department of Social Services, received more than 10 reports from mandated reporters alleging abuse against Thomas, but deemed those reports "unfounded," which ultimately shielded CPS and its caseworkers from any potential criminal charges, following CPS determinations in 2018 against Thomas' biological mother, who lost custody of Thomas and his brothers before Thomas' death.

None of the unfounded reports or the reports' underlying information were ever migrated into the "indicated case" — meaning a case in which CPS found enough evidence to support the claim that a child has been abused or neglected — against Valva or Pollina, a decision that was at the sole discretion of CPS personnel, the grand jury said.

County officials have since said some reforms recommended by the grand jury have been achieved, namely implementing a "blind removal" process designed to eliminate the type of "biased decision-making" that kept Thomas in the custody of his police officer father before his death. Under this process, Social Services is redacting identifying information from reports used to consider the removal of a child from a home, including a parent’s occupation, the names of family members or their ethnic and religious backgrounds.