Virginia Sex Abuse Lawsuits

If you were the victim of sexual abuse or assault, either as a child or an adult, you may have the right to bring a civil lawsuit against your abuser and, in many cases, against a school, hospital, church, company, government agency, or other organization that may share responsibility for what happened.

In this post, our lawyers provide an overview of sexual abuse lawsuits in Virginia. We cover Virginia’s statute of limitations for sex abuse civil cases, recent lawsuits and settlements, and the potential settlement value of these cases. Virginia changed its statute of limitations law again in 2026, which is important for some childhood sexual abuse claims and makes an already confusing deadline analysis even more complicated.

If you have a Virginia sex abuse case, contact us today for a free consultation at 800-553-8082.

Virginia Sex Abuse Lawsuit Updates

Before we get into bringing a sex abuse lawsuit in Virginia and the settlement amounts victims may see, let’s look at what is happening now. There has been quite a bit. The Cumberland Hospital litigation has finally settled after years of awful allegations and a monster jury verdict, and Virginia changed the rules in 2026 for when some childhood sexual abuse claims accrue.

More Virginia Sex Abuse Lawsuit Updates

February 8, 2026 – $17.61 Million Virginia Church Sex Abuse Settlement Reported

Nine boys who alleged they were sexually abused by a youth group leader at a Colonial Heights church resolved their claims for a combined $17.61 million. The settlement was actually reached on July 16, 2025, one day before the first trial was scheduled to begin, but the result was publicly reported in 2026.

The litigation had lasted almost nine years and involved multiple defendants and insurance carriers. The final settlement was reportedly more than four times what the insurers had argued was the full amount of available coverage. That is the kind of insurance fight you often get in institutional sex abuse litigation, particularly when the alleged abuse happened over years and involves multiple victims.

September 15, 2025 – Arlington Woman Sues Uber in California Sexual Assault MDL

A Virginia woman filed a lawsuit against Uber Technologies in federal court alleging she was sexually assaulted by an Uber driver during a ride in Arlington, Virginia, on July 21, 2024.

Although the incident occurred in Virginia, the case was filed directly in the Northern District of California, where the federal Uber sexual assault MDL is being coordinated. Direct filing lets plaintiffs file cases in the MDL court for pretrial proceedings without first filing in their home district and waiting for transfer.

August 18, 2025 – Bon Air Juvenile Center Sexual Abuse Concerns

State watchdog reports and local investigations have raised serious concerns about staffing and supervision at Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center. An arrest of a Bon Air staff member in an alleged sexual assault added to those concerns and brought more attention to the safety of children confined there.

Bon Air is not new to sexual abuse allegations. Virginia records going back decades include substantiated allegations involving staff and youth at the facility. This does not mean every problem at Bon Air is sexual abuse, obviously. But closed juvenile facilities create exactly the kind of power imbalance where a child may have a very hard time reporting misconduct by an adult who controls daily life inside the facility.

May 17, 2025 – Sisters File Lawsuits Against Virginia Churches Over Childhood Abuse

Two sisters filed lawsuits in Richmond Circuit Court against Bethany Place Church and Coastal Church, each seeking $150 million in damages. The complaints allege that both women were repeatedly sexually abused by youth group assistant Gerald R. Thomas between 2006 and 2009 while participating in church activities as minors.

The lawsuits accuse church leaders of failing to take action despite awareness of the alleged abuse and claim that officials withheld information from parents. The requested $150 million in each complaint is not the same thing as a settlement value, of course. It is what the plaintiffs asked for.

April 2, 2025 – VMI Sexual Assault Case Settles

A lawsuit against Virginia Military Institute by a prospective student who alleged she was sexually assaulted by a cadet during an overnight “Open House” event was settled after mediation.

The lawsuit, filed in 2023, accused VMI of failing to maintain a safe campus and violating Title IX. The alleged assault occurred while the high school student, identified as Jane Doe, stayed in the VMI barracks under the school’s hosting program. The settlement amount was confidential.

December 2, 2024 – Court Treats Nurse’s Sexual Assault Injury as Workers’ Compensation Claim

In a case where a nurse sued Inova Health Care Services for injuries sustained during a sexual assault by an adolescent psychiatric patient, the court determined that her exclusive remedy was under the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Act.

The court concluded that dealing with violent or sexually inappropriate behavior from psychiatric patients was an actual risk associated with her employment. It is an unusual case for this page, but it shows that the identity of the assailant and why the victim was exposed to the risk can completely change the legal analysis.

August 19, 2024 – Virginia Hotel Sex Trafficking Lawsuit

A lawsuit filed in the Eastern District of Virginia alleges that Wyndham and Choice hotel defendants facilitated or profited from a woman’s sex trafficking at hotels in Chesapeake, Virginia.

The plaintiff claims she was trafficked between 2012 and 2014 at a Super 8 and later a Quality Inn and alleges the defendants failed to respond to obvious signs of trafficking.

August 6, 2024 – Virginia Appeals Court Rejects Older Childhood Abuse Claim in Doe v. Green

The Virginia Court of Appeals affirmed dismissal of a lawsuit brought by a woman who alleged she was sexually abused beginning when she was 14 years old in 2005 and 2006.

Doe filed suit years later after receiving a PTSD diagnosis. She argued that a newer version of Virginia’s delayed-accrual statute should apply. The court disagreed and refused to retroactively apply the later amendment to revive her claim.

For survivors with older Virginia claims, Doe v. Green remains an uncomfortable reminder that every statutory amendment does not automatically reopen claims that expired under prior law.

May 23, 2024 – UVA Sexual Abuse Lawsuit Allowed to Continue

A federal judge allowed a former University of Virginia student’s Title IX lawsuit to proceed. The plaintiff accused the university of failing to properly respond to her complaints of sexual abuse by a professor.

She alleges the abuse began during a study-abroad program in 2018 and continued for nearly two years.

May 1, 2024 – Northside High School Sex Abuse Case Settles

Five former Northside High School students settled a lawsuit alleging they were sexually abused by soccer coach and technology specialist Lorstan Allen.

The lawsuit alleged school officials failed to adequately respond to complaints about Allen’s conduct. One response was, if you can imagine, installing a half-door in Allen’s office with instructions that it remain open. According to the plaintiffs, that policy was largely ignored.

March 1, 2024 – Fourth Circuit Protects Sexual Assault Plaintiff’s Pseudonym

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled that a woman suing her alleged rapist could continue using a pseudonym during the damages phase of her civil lawsuit. The court found that the lower court had not properly weighed her privacy interests.

February 1, 2024 – Fairfax County School Sex Abuse Lawsuit Continues

A federal judge denied the Fairfax County School Board’s request to dismiss a lawsuit alleging it ignored a middle school student’s reports of sexual abuse and harassment.

The plaintiff alleged she was repeatedly assaulted by classmates in 2011 and 2012 and that school officials failed to adequately investigate or protect her.

August 15, 2023 – Cumberland Ruling Rejects Medical Malpractice Limit

In litigation involving Cumberland Hospital, a Richmond court rejected the argument that the Virginia Medical Malpractice Act’s ordinary two-year limitation period controlled the sexual abuse claims. The court instead treated the claims under Virginia’s longer sexual-abuse limitations framework.

July 1, 2023 – Virginia Expands Deadline for Adult Victims Abused by a Person of Authority

Virginia’s law giving adult survivors 15 years to bring certain claims involving sexual abuse by a “person of authority” took effect. A person of authority is defined as someone in a position of trust who has influence over the victim’s life.

Cumberland Hospital Sex Abuse Lawsuits

Cumberland Hospital for Children and Adolescents, a UHS-owned facility in Virginia, has been at the center of years of sexual abuse litigation. Families alleged that children were subjected to sexual abuse by staff and that the facility failed to take appropriate action.

There are a lot of awful allegations from this hospital. Many were directed at former medical director Dr. Daniel Davidow, who held a leadership role at Cumberland for years before being placed on administrative leave in 2020. Plaintiffs alleged that he targeted female patients during admission and medical examinations, isolated some patients from parents or guardians, and performed unnecessary examinations under the guise of checking femoral pulses.

Patients reported the alleged conduct to hospital staff, therapists, and counselors. A 2017 investigation began after a graduate student interning at the hospital reported multiple allegations to social services. During that investigation, an intern and psychotherapist reported that some female patients had a name for what they said was happening during examinations, calling it the doctor’s “magical touch.” Male patients reportedly were not receiving the same examinations.

Cumberland and the other defendants denied liability. The civil litigation continued for years.

In September 2024, a Richmond jury found Cumberland and Davidow liable in the first trial involving three plaintiffs and returned a combined $360 million verdict. That included $60 million in compensatory damages, $180 million in trebled damages under the Virginia Consumer Protection Act, and $120 million in punitive damages.

Virginia caps punitive damages at $350,000 per plaintiff, so the court later reduced that $120 million punitive award to a combined $1.05 million. That is why a headline verdict and the amount ultimately collectible are not always remotely the same thing.

By the summer of 2026, approximately 43 additional plaintiffs still had similar claims pending. Those remaining claims were settled in August 2026 for an undisclosed amount.

Our sex abuse lawyers are talking to victims in these UHS lawsuits.

Virginia Sex Abuse Settlements and Verdicts

Below are examples of sex abuse settlement amounts and jury payouts in Virginia. These cases do not tell you the settlement payout you should expect for your claim. There are too many differences from case to case, and there is no trustworthy “average Virginia sex abuse settlement.”

But these cases do give you a better understanding of the range of compensation sex abuse victims in Virginia have received.

• $360 Million Verdict (2024): Three former Cumberland Hospital patients alleged they were sexually abused during medical examinations by former medical director Dr. Daniel Davidow. A Richmond jury awarded $60 million in compensatory damages, $180 million in trebled Virginia Consumer Protection Act damages, and $120 million in punitive damages. The punitive portion was later reduced to $1.05 million under Virginia’s statutory cap. The remaining Cumberland claims settled confidentially in 2026.
• $17.61 Million Settlement: Nine boys alleged they were sexually abused by a youth group leader at a Colonial Heights church. The litigation involved numerous defendants and eight insurance carriers and had continued for almost nine years. The claims resolved in July 2025, one day before the first trial was scheduled to begin.
• $6,850,000 Verdict: The plaintiff said she was sexually molested, assaulted, battered, and raped by her father beginning when she was four years old. She alleged the abuse continued until she was 14 and that her father used his power, threats, discipline, and drugs to maintain control.
• $5,013,868 Verdict: A plaintiff suffered a sexual assault while a patient at a nursing home. The plaintiff alleged negligent hiring and a failure to provide proper care. The punitive damages award was initially $4.5 million but was reduced because of Virginia’s statutory punitive damages cap.
• $828,000 Verdict: A two-year-old girl suffered emotional injuries after being sexually abused at her babysitter’s home. The claim against a babysitter referral service alleged that the company knew of a previous molestation complaint involving children in the home but failed to adequately respond.
• $660,000 Settlement: Twelve girls between the ages of six and nine alleged they were molested by a kindergarten bus driver employed by a county. Plaintiffs alleged there had been earlier complaints that should have resulted in the driver being removed.
• $637,000 Verdict: A 14-year-old girl alleged she was sexually molested while babysitting for the defendant’s children.
• $425,000 Settlement: A seven-year-old girl was allegedly coerced into sexual activity with boys at an apartment complex employee’s residence. The claim alleged negligent hiring based on the manager’s prior history.
• $300,000 Verdict (2026): A Nelson County jury awarded $300,000 to a woman who alleged she was sexually assaulted during an overnight hunting trip. DNA evidence was recovered after the assault.
• $250,000 Verdict: An 11-year-old boy suffered emotional distress after an adult exposed himself and proposed sexual activity with the child.
• $85,000 Verdict: A woman alleged she had been sexually molested by her father beginning when she was five years old and suffered herpes and emotional injuries.

What do these numbers tell you? Some things, but not as much as people want them to. The identity of the defendant matters. Prior warnings matter. The age of the survivor, duration of the abuse, psychological harm, corroborating evidence, available insurance, and whether an institution had opportunities to stop the abuse all matter. You cannot average $360 million and $85,000 and pretend the resulting number means anything.

Definition of Sexual Abuse in Virginia

Virginia has a statutory definition of “sexual abuse” in Virginia Code § 18.2-67.10. Among other conduct, it includes intentionally touching another person’s intimate parts, or the material covering those parts, with the intent to sexually molest, arouse, or gratify.

Sexual touching is not an accidental brushing against someone in an elevator. The conduct and intent matter..

If the victim was a child and the adult was a teacher, coach, counselor, detention employee, foster parent, medical provider, or someone else in a position of power, that relationship can become extremely important both criminally and in a civil lawsuit.

Civil Lawsuits for Sex Abuse in Virginia

Under Virginia law, individuals who have experienced sexual abuse have the option of filing a civil lawsuit and seeking monetary damages. Virginia allows victims to file a civil lawsuit regardless of whether criminal charges were filed.

There are a lot of misconceptions about this.  But you can absolutely still have a civil case even if you never told the police at the time. A criminal conviction is not required.

A survivor’s sworn testimony may be the central evidence in a sexual abuse lawsuit. That testimony can be reinforced by medical records, therapy records, text messages, emails, photographs, witnesses, prior complaints involving the same perpetrator, personnel files, or other evidence.

Third-Party Liability in Virginia Sex Abuse Lawsuits

When it comes to civil sex abuse lawsuits, the primary defendant is typically the individual who committed the abuse. But suing the abuser alone may not result in meaningful compensation. The perpetrator may be deceased, incarcerated, or simply have no money.

This reality makes third-party liability a critical part of many sexual abuse claims.

Virginia law can permit claims against schools, churches, youth organizations, healthcare facilities, employers, residential facilities, and other institutions when the facts support an independent legal duty and a breach of that duty.

Virginia does recognize negligent hiring and negligent retention claims. An employer can face liability when it puts a person in a job presenting an unreasonable risk of harm when the employer knew or reasonably should have discovered the danger. Negligent retention focuses on what the employer learned after hiring and whether it kept a dangerous employee in a position where the employee could hurt someone.

Virginia also recognizes a duty to protect in some special relationships. In A.H. v. Church of God in Christ, for example, the Virginia Supreme Court allowed a negligence theory to proceed based on a church’s alleged special relationship with a child who was in its custody during church activities.

There is a quirk worth knowing. Virginia generally does not recognize negligent supervision as a free-standing tort in the same way some states do. Lawyers need to fit the institutional claim to an actual Virginia cause of action rather than just putting the phrase “failure to supervise” in the complaint and assuming that is enough.

Liability can arise from prior complaints, a failure to reasonably investigate a dangerous employee, negligent hiring or retention, a recognized duty to protect, or other facts that made the abuse reasonably preventable. In particularly ugly cases, the evidence may also show efforts to cover up what happened or discourage a child from reporting it.

Third-party claims matter because institutions often have insurance or financial resources that individual offenders do not. There is another reason too. When the evidence shows an institution had a chance to protect a child and did not, the institutional failure is part of what happened.

Virginia Statute of Limitations in Sex Abuse Lawsuits

The statute of limitations for sexual abuse lawsuits in Virginia is downright confusing. This is not one of those states where you can look at the victim’s age, add a number, and always know the answer.

Childhood Sexual Abuse Claims

Virginia Code § 8.01-243(D) gives a survivor 20 years after the cause of action accrues to file an action for personal injury resulting from sexual abuse that occurred during infancy or incapacity.

People often translate that into “you have until age 38.” Sometimes that is exactly right because one possible accrual date is when the disability of infancy ends at age 18.

But it is not the whole statute.

Under Virginia Code § 8.01-249, a qualifying childhood sexual abuse claim can accrue upon the later of:

• the end of infancy or incapacity;
• when a licensed physician, psychologist, or clinical psychologist first communicates the injury and its causal connection to the abuse; or
• under the law effective July 1, 2026, when qualifying corroborative evidence is discovered or reasonably should have been discovered.

The new corroborative-evidence provision is potentially important. It can include physical evidence, records, recordings, photographs, witness statements, evidence that the defendant committed similar acts, or an admission or confession.

But there is an explicit limitation for institutional defendants. A claim against an entity relying on this new corroborative-evidence accrual rule must involve a cause of action occurring on or after July 1, 2026.

There can also be retroactivity problems with old claims. In Doe v. Green, the Virginia Court of Appeals refused to apply a newer delayed-accrual rule retroactively to revive a claim governed by older law.

So if you were abused before 2026, do not read the new statute and assume it automatically reopens your case. It might help in some circumstances. It might not. Someone has to look at when the abuse happened, when the claim accrued under the law in effect at the relevant time, and whether the claim had already expired.

Even lawyers are confused by these statute of limitations rules. So what do you do? Contact a qualified lawyer immediately and figure out the issue and whether you can bring a claim.  Our experience is that many victims who do not have a claim think they do.  And, conversely, many victims who do have a claim think they do not.

Adult Sexual Abuse Claims

Virginia’s general personal-injury statute is two years, but Virginia has created longer periods for sexual abuse claims.

For qualifying causes of action accruing on or after July 1, 2020, Virginia Code § 8.01-243(D1) generally provides a 10-year period for sexual abuse claims not governed by the childhood-abuse provision.

There is another rule when the victim was at least 18 and the abuse was committed by a “person of authority.” Under § 8.01-243(D2), the period is 15 years after accrual. Virginia defines a person of authority as someone in a position of trust who has influence over the victim’s life.

This can potentially include relationships involving teachers, coaches, employers, religious leaders, counselors, healthcare providers, or others, depending on the actual facts and whether the statutory definition is satisfied.

Older adult claims can raise different problems because the 10-year and 15-year provisions do not simply revive every claim that expired before those laws took effect.

Government Facilities and the Virginia Tort Claims Act

Another complication comes up when the potential defendant is the Commonwealth of Virginia or a state agency, including claims involving state-operated juvenile facilities.

The Virginia Tort Claims Act has its own notice and filing requirements, and sovereign immunity can limit which claims may be brought against the state in the first place.

For a claim covered by the Act, written notice generally must be given within one year after accrual unless one of the statutory exceptions applies. The lawsuit generally must then be commenced within 18 months after the notice was filed or within two years after accrual. Virginia’s tolling provisions can matter too.

There may also be claims against individual employees or federal constitutional claims that operate under different rules. This is one reason I would never tell somebody with a Virginia juvenile detention abuse case to calculate the deadline themselves from a website.

We see it all the time: people with potentially strong compensation claims wait too long and then find out there is a deadline problem nobody can fix.

Can a Virginia Sex Abuse Plaintiff Remain Anonymous?

Often, but not automatically.

Virginia Code § 8.01-15.1 allows a court to permit a plaintiff to proceed under a pseudonym when special circumstances justify anonymity. Sexual abuse obviously involves the type of sensitive, intensely personal information courts take seriously, but the survivor still has to satisfy the legal standard.

The judge may consider:

• whether anonymity protects privacy involving a highly personal matter;
• the risk of physical or mental harm if the survivor’s identity is disclosed;
• the age of the person whose privacy is being protected;
• whether the defendant is governmental or private; and
• whether anonymity would be unfair to another party.

Virginia judges have been very reasonable on this issue in sexual abuse lawsuits. But I would not promise every client that his or her name can never become public. The court makes that decision.

Virginia Juvenile Detention Center Sex Abuse Lawsuits

Sexual abuse within juvenile detention centers presents an obvious danger because the children are confined and completely dependent on adults working inside the facility. If the person abusing a child is a guard or counselor, the person the child would ordinarily report the abuse to may work down the hall from the abuser.

Poorly run juvenile detention centers are especially dangerous. These facilities can be understaffed, have poor supervision, and house vulnerable children with very little access to their families or other adults they trust. The power imbalance between youth and staff is enormous.

The Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice operates Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center and oversees Virginia’s juvenile justice system. Bon Air in particular has faced sexual abuse allegations over the years, along with broader concerns involving staffing, violence, contraband, and treatment of detained youth.

Claims involving state custody are legally different from an ordinary lawsuit against a private school or residential program. Sovereign immunity, the Virginia Tort Claims Act, federal civil-rights law, the status of the individual employee, and notice deadlines all may come into play.

Virginia juvenile detention facilities and detention homes relevant to our review of these claims include:

This list is not an assertion that every facility has been found responsible for sexual abuse. Some facilities are included because our lawyers are reviewing Virginia detention claims generally.

Virginia Residential Treatment Sex Abuse Lawsuits

Residential treatment facilities in Virginia are intended to provide care for children and adolescents struggling with emotional, behavioral, developmental, or mental health disorders.

Poorly run residential treatment facilities are fertile ground for sexual abuse because they often lack proper oversight, rely on undertrained staff, and house vulnerable children with limited outside contact. The power imbalance between staff and youth, many of whom are in state custody or dealing with serious mental health issues, makes it easier for predators to manipulate or intimidate victims into silence.

Chronic understaffing and poor supervision allow misconduct to go unnoticed. This feeds a depressing culture of secrecy in some facilities, where residents already know they won’t be believed. Cost-cutting can make the problem worse when there are simply not enough qualified adults watching what is happening.

A 2024 U.S. Senate investigation into youth residential treatment facilities described widespread problems in the industry, including abuse, neglect, poor oversight, and business models that can place financial incentives ahead of children.

Cumberland Hospital is the obvious Virginia example because the litigation there produced one of the largest sexual abuse verdicts in the country and later a settlement involving more than 40 additional plaintiffs.

Other Virginia residential or behavioral health facilities our lawyers have reviewed include:

Again, inclusion on this list does not mean there has been a judicial finding that a particular facility committed or enabled sexual abuse. Individual allegations and claims have to be investigated on their own facts.

The Barry Robinson Center in particular has been the subject of sexual abuse allegations.

Virginia Sexual Abuse Lawsuit FAQs

Can I file a civil lawsuit for sexual abuse in Virginia?

Yes, if the claim is still legally viable. A survivor can sue the perpetrator and, in the right case, an institution whose own negligence or other actionable conduct contributed to the abuse. A criminal case or conviction is not required.

What is the statute of limitations for a Virginia sexual abuse lawsuit?

There is no single answer as we explain more fully above. Childhood sexual abuse claims generally have a 20-year period measured from accrual, and Virginia has special accrual rules that can make the date later than the survivor’s 18th birthday. Adult sexual abuse claims accruing on or after July 1, 2020, can have a 10-year period, while qualifying adult claims involving a person of authority have a 15-year period.

The law changed again in 2026 to add discovery of corroborative evidence as a possible accrual trigger in childhood sexual abuse cases. Government claims can have additional notice requirements. So the statute of limitations is one place where you really do want a lawyer looking at the actual dates.

What damages can a survivor recover?

Pain and suffering: Every serious sex abuse case begins with what the abuse did to the survivor. Anxiety, depression, PTSD, shame, damaged relationships, fear, and the loss of a normal childhood or normal adult life can be enormous damages. Is it hard to quantify this level of suffering? Of course. But it is what lawyers and jurors must do to determine settlements and verdicts.

Medical and therapy expenses: A claim can include treatment made necessary by the abuse, including counseling, psychiatric care, medication, hospitalization, or other medical care.

Lost wages and earning capacity: Abuse can affect school, employment, and the ability to maintain a career. Those losses can be part of a civil damages claim when the evidence supports them.

Punitive damages: Punitive damages may be available when Virginia law and the evidence support them. Juries can become furious at deliberate abuse and institutional conduct that appears particularly egregious. Virginia, however, caps punitive damages, which is exactly what happened after the Cumberland verdict.

Can I remain anonymous?

You may be able to proceed as Jane Doe, John Doe, or by initials, but anonymity is not automatic. Virginia Code § 8.01-15.1 requires the court to balance the survivor’s privacy and safety interests against the public interest and any unfairness to the defendant.

Virginia judges have been very reasonable on this issue in sexual abuse lawsuits, particularly when children or intensely personal allegations are involved.

Do I need a criminal conviction before filing a civil lawsuit?

No. The criminal and civil systems are different. Prosecutors must prove a criminal case beyond a reasonable doubt. A civil plaintiff ordinarily has the lower burden of proving a claim by a preponderance of the evidence.

That is why a survivor may have a viable civil case even when prosecutors never filed charges or a criminal prosecution did not result in a conviction.

The Emotional and Legal Process of Filing a Sex Abuse Lawsuit

Deciding Whether to Come Forward

Deciding to come forward with a sex abuse lawsuit is a deeply personal choice. There is no universal right answer.

For many survivors, holding an abuser or institution accountable is important. A lawsuit may provide financial resources for therapy and rebuilding a life. It may also expose institutional failures that would otherwise stay hidden.

But our lawyers fully understand that not everyone finds healing through legal action. The legal process can be difficult. Reliving trauma through a deposition, which happens in many but not all of these cases, is not for everyone. Some people are ready for that fight and some are not.

Talking to a Virginia Sex Abuse Lawyer

The lawyer will first want to know what happened, when it happened, how old the survivor was, and whether anyone besides the abuser may have legal responsibility.

The statute of limitations is one of the first things we look at because Virginia has changed this law repeatedly. You want to call a lawyer even if you are not sure you are going to file a claim. Waiting for another year just because you are undecided can sometimes take the decision out of your hands.

Filing the Lawsuit and Discovery

If the case moves forward, the lawyer files a civil complaint against the appropriate defendants. During discovery, both sides obtain documents and take testimony. In an institutional case, plaintiffs may seek personnel files, old complaints, incident reports, emails, policies, insurance information, witness testimony, and records showing what administrators knew.

The survivor may have to sit for a deposition. That can be emotionally difficult. A good lawyer does not make that disappear, but the lawyer can make sure the client knows what is coming and is prepared for it.

Mediation and Settlement

Most sex abuse lawsuits in Virginia do not end with a jury verdict. Many are resolved through mediation or direct settlement negotiations.

Survivors have reasons to settle. A settlement gives certainty and avoids the emotional experience and risk of a trial.

Defendants have reasons too. Sex abuse cases can be dangerous cases to put in front of a jury, particularly when the plaintiff has evidence that an institution received complaints and did very little with them. The Cumberland verdict tells you what can happen when a jury becomes angry.

That does not mean every defendant runs to settle. They don’t. Insurance disputes, statute of limitations defenses, causation arguments, and fights over what an institution actually knew can keep these cases going for years.

If the Case Goes to Trial

If no settlement is reached, the case goes to trial, and the judge or jury determines liability and damages. Does this happen often? No. The vast majority of Virginia sexual abuse lawsuits settle before the survivor ever has to testify at trial.

But you prepare the case as if it will. That is usually how you get the settlement in the first place.

Contact Us About Virginia Sex Abuse Lawsuits

If you were the victim of sexual abuse and want to file a sex abuse lawsuit in Virginia, contact us today at 800-553-8082 or contact us online.

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