Mom of boy who froze to death in NYPD dad’s garage does 180 on $9M legal settlement– but there’s a new twist

The mother of Thomas Valva did a 180 and accepted a revised $9 million legal settlement in the murder of her son — but now Suffolk County is thinking twice about signing off on the deal.

Justyna Zubko-Valva agreed to the tweaked settlement Monday in a Magistrate court after previously refusing to sign the settlement over the death of 8-year-old Thomas Valva — who froze to death in the garage of a home owned by his ex-NYPD dad, Michael Valva.

Zubko-Valva told the judge she was in a “difficult financial situation” with her other children, according to Newsday. 

“We have a house in foreclosure that needs to be paid immediately in order to save our home,” she said. “And I have to support my children financially,”

Suffolk County, however, raised red flags over the revisions, which they said included language that would possibly allow her two other sons, Anthony, 16, and Andrew, 12, to file new claims against the county after they turn 18, sources told The Post.

The added revisions have essentially changed the structure of the settlement, which was originally set up as a wrongful-death agreement rather than one centered on “pain and suffering” to minimize the tax burdens on all parties in the case, Newsday said.

Earlier this month, Zubko-Valva refused to sign off on the already-worked-out agreement with Suffolk County unless these revisions were added, and said in court that $9 million failed to address the “tremendous suffering” her family was subjected to, leading to the deal falling apart and leaving the judge speechless, The Post previously reported.

Zubko-Valva also accused her own attorneys of misconduct and prolonging the case for a larger payout, and has since refused to meet with them to resolve the issues, her lawyers detailed.

“I’m at a loss as to what to do here,” Judge Edward Korman said in court earlier this month after the grieving mom refused to sign her name on the documents, Newsday reported.

Monday’s agreement — if the county signs off — would provide the financially struggling mother with $2 million up-front while also setting up $2 million trusts for each of her two other children. Her attorneys would also be awarded $3 million in attorney’s fees, sources close to the case said. 

Thomas Valva’s senseless death in January 2020 shook the quiet Suffolk County community.

The 8-year-old boy froze to death after his father and his dad’s then-fiancée, Angela Pollina, repeatedly abused the child and forced him to sleep in a frigid, unheated garage. 

Both were later convicted of murder and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.

Zubko-Valva sued Suffolk County for $200 million in 2022 for failing to protect her son despite repeated complaints of abuse and neglect to the county’s Child Protective Services.

“We have done our jobs,” her attorneys told The Post about the agreement. 

Magistrate Judge Arlene Lindsay has now ordered Suffolk County to hand in its written arguments on the settlement by Friday, and set the next court date for Dec. 29.