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| Libertybell Law Civil Lawyers Hail Sexual Abuse Suing Deadline Axed
Fort Mill Times
October 7, 2013
http://www.fortmilltimes.com/2013/10/07/3008121/libertybell-law-civil-lawyers.html
LOS ANGELES --
LibertyBell Law Group’s civil lawyers applaud the new California bill, SB-131, allowing childhood sexual abuse victims to seek damages by axing the statute of limitations for one year effective January 1, 2014. The sexual abuse law does have some requirements. The bill, dubbed the Child Victims’ Act, passed in the Senate and Assembly. The bill sits on the desk of Governor Jerry Brown, who has until October 13th to sign or veto the bill. If the governor does nothing, SB-131 becomes law without his expression of approval or dissent.
Opponents of the Child Victims’ Act argue the bill unfairly targets private schools and non-profit institutions; some of which have a publicized history of child sexual abuse. Recently, Reuters reported on a sex abuse scandal spanning many years of shielded sexual abuse by priests, evidenced by 6,000 pages of released documents ordered by a Wisconsin judge. On September 3, 2013, the New York Post reported sexually abused victims’ pleas for help were ignored by an elite private school, which is confirmed by government investigations of the Horace Man sexual abuse.
The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the largest public school system in California and second in the country, now has a zero-tolerance policy towards sex abuse after the Miramonte sex abuse scandal. Governor Brown recently also signed AB-449, Teacher Misconduct Bill, which criminalizes superintendents for failing to report teachers when they are disciplined or fired for misconduct. One of the LAUSD board members, Tamar Galatzan, is also a criminal prosecutor since 2002.
“Sexual assault, abuse, and molestation by teachers, coaches and clergy occur more often than we like to think. Unfortunately, our California lawyers handle a lot of cases involving victims who were sexually assaulted by someone in an inherent position of trust. Since schools and non-profits are liable for their employees, many won’t report incidents to the police for fear of being sued with a very costly lawsuit by the victim,” says Irena Shut, a lawyer in California from LibertyBell Law’s best civil attorneys group. “We adamantly pursue these cases for the pain, suffering, and physical violations the victim has had and will continue to endure.”
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