Attorney for Victims of Sexual Abuse in Altoona, PA

Item: The Law Office of Andrew Shubin
Rating: 5
Author: Tina L

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Fighting For Important Causes In State And Federal Courts

Sexual abuse victims can report what happened to them and seek criminal charges, but they can also file civil lawsuits. In a civil suit, you can get damages for yourself to cover things like therapy bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering from your abuse.

These claims care more about the victim than criminal cases, which often seek to just punish the defendant. Our lawyers can review your case and help you bring a lawsuit against not only the abuser but also against institutions that might have allowed the abuse to go unchecked.

For a free, confidential case review, call our attorneys for victims of sexual abuse today at The Law Office of Andrew Shubin by dialing (814) 826-3586.

Civil vs. Criminal Cases for Sexual Abuse

If you are a survivor of sexual abuse, our lawyers can help you bring a case to vindicate your own rights. These civil suits focus on making you whole again, to the extent that the law can do that, rather than focusing on punishing the offender.

Damages

You can file a lawsuit to recover all economic and non-economic damages that resulted from the abuse. This can include compensation for

Medical bills
Mental health therapy bills
Lost wages that result from injuries or mental conditions the abuse caused you
Mental anguish
Emotional distress
Physical pain
And more.

Because sexual abuse is intentional, and because institutions often commit reprehensible acts of recklessness or fraud to cover abuse, they can also be forced to pay you punitive damages in some cases.

Defendants

In a sexual abuse case, you might file against the abuser directly. This is common in cases of intimate partner abuse or claims against a family member or family friend who abused you as a child.

However, many cases can also be brought against institutions that failed to protect you from sexual abuse or who actively protected and defended abusers.

Suing for Institutional Sexual Abuse

Many instances of sexual abuse only happen because trusted institutions allow workers and staff to harm people or because they actively worked to cover up the abuse. Claims have been brought in Pennsylvania and across the country against institutions and organizations, such as the following:

Schools and colleges
Churches, dioceses, and parishes
Camps and summer camps
Sports organizations
Scouting organizations
Hospitals
Nursing homes
And more.

These lawsuits typically allege one or more of the following issues:

Vicarious Liability

In this type of claim, you allege that the organization or employer is responsible for its employee’s acts. This can help you get compensation for abuse from a school, for example, if a teacher committed the abuse while acting in their teaching role.

This is not possible in every case, and it depends heavily on the facts, how the abuse happened, and the individual abuser’s employment status.

Direct Negligence

If the institution failed to take steps, and those failures put you in jeopardy, they can be responsible for those issues in their own right. This is common in cases of negligent hiring or failing to screen workers they should have known would be unsafe around children.

You can also sue an organization that actively protected abusers and put people in danger by leaving them in communities or organizations after past allegations of abuse. This commonly comes from these acts:

Failing to properly investigate and punish abuse
Moving abusers to different locations
Actively covering up or dissuading past abuse victims from coming forward.

FAQs for Victims of Sexual Abuse in Altoona

How Do You Report Sexual Abuse?

If you work in certain fields, you may be a mandated reporter. You should have received training and instruction on how to report abuse you come across in your work, and you can check with your organization for further details.

If you are an abuse victim, no one expects you to come forward immediately or to know what to do. You can always report what happened to the police and let them take care of investigations. You can also call our sexual abuse victim lawyers, and we can help you take the proper steps to report the abuse and file claims.

Can I Sue for Sexual Abuse?

You can often file a personal injury lawsuit for sexual abuse. This can help you claim damages for assault and battery generally, or sexual abuse specifically.

There may be certain situations where you are expected to go through certain claims processes first, such as filing through state agencies for sexual abuse in school or at work, but our lawyers can guide you through the technicalities of this and help you file your lawsuit when available.

How Long Do I Have to Sue for Sexual Abuse?

The law is different for people abused as minors, people abused between the ages of 18 and 23, and people abused after age 23. These laws also changed in 2019 and at other times, and the deadline to file is based on what the active law was at the time of the abuse, not what the law is now, so always check with a lawyer.

The current laws for sexual abuse claims in Pennsylvania allow claims as follows:

Minors: until age 55
18-23 year olds: until age 30
Adults 24+: 2 years.

Can My Case Be Handled Confidentially or Privately?

Our lawyers always owe you attorney-client confidentiality, meaning we cannot just discuss information you tell us in private. However, we do need to divulge info as part of your claim, such as in our court filings and arguments.

There are ways we can potentially protect your identity in filings, especially if you are a minor. However, if you testify, you likely have to do so in the courtroom.

Claims can potentially be settled out of court and kept confidential, but that may also limit what you can say about the settlement and the defendant. Check with our law office for more information.