San Diego County School Sexual Abuse Attorney
The San Diego County Office of Education contains 799 schools and more than 500,000 students spanning grades Kindergarten to 12. San Diego County is responsible for the safety and wellbeing of each and every student. This includes taking action to prevent sexual abuse and assault. Unfortunately, many counties in California do not do as much as they could to prevent student sexual abuse. If you or your child is a survivor of this terrible crime, please contact us to discuss your legal options. The school sexual abuse lawyers at Manly, Stewart & Finaldi have represented over 100 survivors of school sex abuse in California.
Why Clients Trust Us
- We bring decades of experience to each case we handle.
- We offer aggressive and passionate legal representation for sex abuse survivors.
- We have recovered over $2 billion in case results for past clients.
- We put your needs first, keeping your identity anonymous if desired.
- We pursue all liable parties. This could include the school, school district and county.
How a School Sexual Abuse Lawyer Can Help
You do not have to pursue justice alone as a survivor of sexual abuse at a San Diego County school. The lawyers at Manly, Stewart & Finaldi can partner with you to support you and your family for the duration of your civil lawsuit. We can take years of experience and use our knowledge to fight for fair results on your behalf. From identifying all at-fault parties to negotiating a fair compensatory award using aggressive legal tactics, we can take care of many actions while you focus on moving forward.
What the New Law Means If You Are a Sexual Assault Survivor While Attending a Public School
Public school sexual abuse survivors in California used to have an additional hurdle to overcome when bringing civil lawsuits. Claims against government entities such as public school districts used to have strict deadlines of 6 months (or 12 months in some cases) from the date of the last incidence of abuse, if the abuse occurred before January 1st, 2009. Today, however, the enactment of AB-218 means survivors of childhood sexual assault prior to January 1st, 2009 may bring claims for the damages they suffered. It modifies the statute of limitations for child sexual assault survivors to allow those who previously missed their deadlines to now bring claims.
Do You Have a Claim?
A civil claim for school sexual assault is not the same as a criminal case against the defendant. San Diego County prosecutors bring criminal charges against alleged sex abusers to impose penalties against them. It is up to a survivor, however, to pursue damages by bringing a civil claim. You may have grounds to file a civil claim against a teacher, administrator, school, school district and/or other parties for sexual assault if you have four main elements.
- Duty of care. If a student-teacher relationship existed at the time of the assault, the teacher owed you a duty to exercise reasonable care.
- Breach of duty. Your lawyer can help you find proof of a breach of duty, such as stories from other survivors of assault from the same teacher.
- Causation. Your lawyer must prove that the perpetrator’s breach of duty more likely than not caused the damages you are claiming.
- Damages. You must have suffered compensable damages because of the school sexual assault, including medical bills from therapy and pain and suffering.
Hiring an attorney from Manly, Stewart & Finaldi could greatly improve your odds of bringing a successful civil claim against one or more parties for school sexual abuse in San Diego County. We know how to litigate these cases and negotiate with government entities for fair results. Our lawyers will take on the burden of proof while you and your family recover.
Contact a San Diego County School Sexual Abuse Lawyer
Manly, Stewart & Finaldi has an award-winning lead attorney, John C. Manly, who has dedicated his entire career to advocating for survivors of sexual abuse and assault. Find out if our firm can help you or your child bring the correct parties to justice after suffering from school sexual abuse. Contact us today to request a free, confidential consultation with a lawyer.