The mother of an 8-year-old boy who froze to death in his NYPD father’s Long Island garage won a $9 million settlement against Suffolk County for failing to protect her son, according to court papers.
Justyna Zubko-Valva was awarded the multi-million-dollar wrongful death claim, in which she originally demanded $200 million, for her son Thomas Valva, who succumbed to freezing temperatures in the garage of his father’s Center Moriches home on January 17, 2020.
She will take home roughly $5.6 million after splitting the settlement with her legal team and two surviving sons, Anthony and Andrew, who were 10 and 6 when their brother died, the settlement agreement notes.
Funeral for Thomas Valva
David Wexler/for New York Daily News Justyna Zubka-Valva holds Andrew, 6, while getting into the limousine as tears stream down Andrew’s face, after funeral services for her son, Thomas Valva, 8, on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020, at St. Elizabeth’s Church, in Melville, N.Y. (David Wexler/for New York Daily News)
Named in the suit were a local school district, Suffolk County’s Child Protective Services, several attorneys and a county judge, whom Zubko-Valva accused of failing to heed numerous signs of abuse as she waged a three-year custody battle, which only ended after her son passed away.
“I pretty much knocked on every door I could think of, hoping to find one person who would help my children, one person whose job it was to protect the kids,” Zubko-Valva told the Daily News after filing suit in June 2020. “In reality, it was really all just a big mess. The people who were supposed to protect them were actually protecting the abusers of my children.”
Thomas’ father Michael Valva, an NYPD officer, beat the boy and made him sleep in his garage, where he died amid temperatures that dipped into the teens. Valva and his fiancée, Angela Pollina, were both sentenced to 25 years to life in prison after being convicted of second-degree murder for the boy’s death.
Michael Valva
(Suffolk County Sheriff via AP)/Associated Press Thomas’ father Michael Valva, right, an NYPD officer, allegedly made his young sons sleep in his Center Moriches home’s frigid garage. Valva and his fiance Angela Pollina were both convicted of murder in Thomas’ death.
Court records show Zubko-Valva informed a Nassau County family court judge that Thomas’ father was beating him and his two brothers, even warning that her son might die if nothing was done.
“Is your honor waiting for my child to die under the care of Michael Valva and Angela Valva?” the desperate mother asked. “Because that’s what it’s leading to. The plaintiff (Valva) is hitting the children, beating them up. Nothing is being done.”
In one exchange, Justyna Zubko-Valva told the judge she wants Thomas, his autistic older brother Anthony and Andrew returned to her because she claimed they were unlawfully taken away. The judge immediately denied the motion.
Zubko-Valva’s complaints dated back to Sept. 6, 2017, when a Nassau County judge granted custody of the three boys to their dad — a 15-year NYPD veteran. She has since regained custody of her two surviving sons.
