Sexual abuse is not something you have to live with on your own. There is help out there for survivors of sexual abuse and sexual assault, and one important form of help to consider is legal help.
Our attorneys can listen to your story and help analyze what happened, looking for potential individuals and institutions (schools, churches, employers, etc.) that we can hold accountable for what happened. From there, we can file lawsuits and seek damages for what happened to you, paying you for any medical care, therapy, lost earnings, and physical/mental pain and suffering you faced.
For a free, confidential consultation with our experienced attorneys for victims of sexual abuse, reach out to The Reiff Law Firm at (215) 709-6940.
What Qualifies as Grounds for a Sexual Abuse Lawsuit in Pennsylvania?
When victims sue for sexual abuse and sexual assault, the legal elements that have to be proven are not always particularly complex. At its core, a civil lawsuit for sexual abuse or sexual assault is a basic assault and battery claim: you have to prove that the defendant intentionally made harmful or offensive contact with you and put you in imminent apprehension of that contact. Whether you are suing for unwanted physical touching or sexual penetration, these basic elements remain the same.
Every injury case also needs damages. In cases of sexual assault, not every case involves physical injury, but these cases still involve unwanted, offensive violations of your bodily security and autonomy. These, by themselves, result in damages even without forcible injury. Additionally, damages can flow from the initial act, including the medical bills, therapy bills, lost wages, depression, anxiety, fear, and other mental and emotional effects of the initial injury. These damages need to be proven in court, often through bills, records, and testimony from your doctor/therapist.
You can also potentially sue under other types of claims, from intentional infliction of emotional distress for outrageous cases of abuse to negligence for cases where you faced injury because of someone else’s lack of care or violation of specific statutes. Our attorneys for victims of sexual abuse can analyze the facts of your case and determine the best grounds for your lawsuit.
Claims Against Individuals and Institutions for Sexual Abuse in Pennsylvania
Some lawsuits are based on claims against an individual abuser. In these cases, you often sue that person directly and request damages for the harm they caused you. In other cases, there are other parties involved, often under one of the following theories:
Abuser’s Employer
If the person who abused you was employed by a church, school, hospital, university, camp, scouting organization, or business, and the abuse took place within the scope of their employment, you may have a case against their employer, too. These claims are based purely on the fact that what happened occurred within the abuser’s employment.
Negligent Institutions
Institutions like schools, churches, camps, and scouting organizations can also be held accountable for their own negligence in allowing the abuse to occur. This could come from failing to screen workers they should have known might be abusive, for failing to properly supervise children in their care, from failing to properly supervise abusive employees, or even for negligent security on the premises where the abuse occurred.
Institutional Involvement
Some cases go beyond institutions merely failing to screen employees, with institutions and supervisors actively covering up past abuse and putting more people at risk of abuse. These cases often involve past allegations of sexual abuse where the institution then buries the reports, fails to investigate, or even reassigns known abusers. This puts more people at risk because the institution failed to uphold its reasonable or legal obligations to screen out abusers, investigate abuse, and protect people in the community. These cases have been commonly alleged against churches, scouting organizations, inpatient facilities, and more.
When Can You File a Sexual Abuse Claim in Pennsylvania?
The law in Pennsylvania was changed several years ago to allow lawsuits to be filed longer after the initial abuse, but these laws are not retroactive. That means that it is important to have an attorney check the law that was in effect at the time of the abuse.
Cases involving sexual abuse or sexual assault that occurred on or after January 1, 2019 are governed by the current version of 42 Pa.C.S. § 5533. This version of the law gives victims of sexual abuse who were under 18 when the abuse occurred 37 years from the time they turn 18 to file. That means they have until age 55 to bring their lawsuits. For those adults aged 23 or younger, the law gives them until age 30 to file their claim. For a case to qualify under these extended deadlines, there may be additional requirements for the elements of the case, such as a requirement that it must have involved force or threats.
If you were abused earlier than January 1, 2019, it is possible your case could still benefit from the extended filing deadlines as written in the law between 2002 and 2019. The law at that time gave child victims 12 years after they turned 18 to file, meaning many people under age 30 could still have valid cases from before 2019. If your abuse occurred before 2002, you would have needed to file before you turned 20 under the law in place at that time.
Otherwise, claims for sexual abuse usually need to be filed within 2 years of the abuse under 42 Pa.C.S. § 5524. This rule applies to cases of abuse for anyone 24 years old or older unless they meet some other reason for an extended filing deadline.
In many cases, it is not necessary to pinpoint the exact dates of abuse, though this will certainly increase your credibility. In many cases of ongoing or long-term sexual abuse, we can use the last date of abuse as the starting point for these filing deadline calculations. For example, if the abuse stopped when you turned 18 and left an abusive household, we can use that as the start date for the 37-year filing clock.
Call Our Lawyers for Victims of Sexual Abuse in Pennsylvania
For a free, confidential review of your case, call the attorneys for victims of sexual abuse at The Reiff Law Firm at (215) 709-6940.
