Thomas Valva's mother files court papers detailing $9M settlement with Suffolk over 8-year-old son's death

The $9 million wrongful death settlement between Suffolk County and the mother of Thomas Valva, the 8-year-old Center Moriches boy who was killed by his NYPD officer father and the father’s fiancée when they forced him to sleep in a freezing garage, is before a federal judge for final approval, court documents show.

In response to a federal judge’s ultimatum threatening to force the case to go to trial, Thomas’ mother, Justyna Zubko-Valva filed an infant compromise motion, which details the payout of the settlement for her and her minor children, after she had repeatedly resisted filing the necessary paperwork to finalize the agreement.

In the motion, Zubko-Valva's lawyer Thomas Bosworth proposed that his client receive $5,645,615.60 via a wire transfer and her other sons, Anthony and Andrew, each receive $177,342.20 in custodial bank accounts that cannot be accessed until they are 18 years old. Bosworth’s Philadelphia-based firm nets $3 million, or 33% of the settlement amount. 

Neither Zubko-Valva nor Bosworth responded to messages Monday. 

In order for the settlement to be paid, U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan has to sign-off on the motion. During a hearing in April, Cogan repeatedly chided Zubko-Valva for speaking out of order and warned her that if she didn’t agree to have her lawyer submit the infant compromise motion to the court within 30 days, he would order the case to trial. 

Thomas’ NYPD officer father, Michael Valva, and Valva's then-fiancee, Angela Pollina, were convicted of second-degree murder in the boy’s death. They forced Thomas and his older brother Anthony, both on the autism spectrum, to sleep in an unheated garage, and starved and beat them. Thomas died from hypothermia on Jan. 17, 2020.

Valva and Pollina are serving sentences of 25 years to life in upstate prisons.

Thomas' death resulted in a series of reforms to Suffolk's Child Protective Services. School officials had testified at Valva and Pollina's trials that they "flooded" a CPS child abuse hotline with reports of Thomas frequently coming to school starving and bruised, but the children remained in his father's custody.

Zubko-Valva had lost custody of her children about two years before Thomas' death and had refused court-ordered supervised visits with Thomas and his brothers amid a contentious divorce with the NYPD transition cop.

Following Thomas' death, Zubko-Valva filed a $200 million wrongful death suit against the county and seven CPS 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. The settlement was reached in 2025, but the finalization of it has hit a series of delays as Zubko-Valva has contested several issues.

Following Thomas’ murder, CPS initiated a number of reforms, but the agency is back under the microscope as questions have been raised about how CPS could have better protected 7-year-old Jor’Dynn Duncan, the Bayport girl who prosecutors have said was subjected to “prolonged torture” and killed on Dec. 29 by her legal guardian after CPS placed the girl in the guardian’s home.

Emily Kelly, 50, the legal guardian and fiancée of Jor’Dynn’s incarcerated father; Kelly’s mother Barbara Renner, 75, and Kelly’s daughter Elyssa Seymore, 24, have all pleaded not guilty to charges in connection with Jor’Dynn’s death.