Sexual Abuse

The California Healthy Youth Act, which has been in place since 2016, provides “integrated, comprehensive, accurate, and unbiased sexual health and HIV prevention instruction” for public school students. Erin Prangley, associate director of government relations for the American Association of University Women, told EdSource that “Many school cultures trivialize harassment, tolerate language that degrades girls…

Larry Nassar, George Tyndall, James Heaps, Bayard Allmond and countless other physicians have faced the legal and professional consequences of sexual misconduct against patients most of whom were young and vulnerable. A story in the Los Angeles Times reports that since the fall of 2017, complaints against California physicians have increased by 62%. Those numbers…

The Washington Post recently reported that a Boy Scout identified as S.D., was sexually assaulted hundreds of times by a scout leader. The incidents happened in the 1970s in Pennsylvania. A lawsuit has been filed on behalf of the plaintiff against the Boy Scouts, the Penn Mountains Council, and the alleged abuser. It is one…

George Tyndall, a former gynecologist for USC, was arrested and charged with 18 counts of sexual assault and 11 counts of sexual battery by fraud. He faces up to 53 years in prison if he is convicted on all charges. At this time, the charges stem from accusations posed by 16 different women. However, the…

A recent NPR article shined a light on overlooked victims of sexual assault – adult survivors of sexual abuse by nuns. Awareness and acknowledgement of the abuse and molestation of girls and boys by priests and clergy is growing, and this validation is helping survivors of abuse by religious sisters come forward with their allegations.…

The Catholic Church has been at the heart of multiple sexual abuse scandals for more than a decade now, with more and more victims. The survivors are generally males (though woman have come forward in record numbers, too) who attended all-boy grade schools and high schools throughout the United States. This type of systemic abuse…

Aimee Palmitessa was charged with 12 felony counts for having sex with one of her students at Brentwood School; the student was a minor at the time. Last August, the student – “John Doe” – sued Brentwood School: “The 33-page complaint documented Palmitessa’s history of suggestive behavior toward students, even before Doe ended up in…

Thousands of credible accusations have been leveled against the Catholic Church over the last few years alone, and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles is no exception. Having just secured the largest individual settlement for a sex abuse case ever offered by Archdiocese, we know firsthand how important it is that survivors come forward. That is…

If you have turned on the news or looked online in the last couple of days, you’ve seen the headlines: almost 8,000 Boy Scouts leaders have been accused of sexual abuse over the last 72 years. We knew it was bad. We just didn’t know it was this bad. The idea that the Boy Scouts…

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is now the target of two independent lawsuits from two separate groups of plaintiffs, claiming they are victims of sexual abuse by members of the Catholic clergy. One of the filings is a class-action suit that names the Vatican as a defendant. The class-action lawsuit alleges that the…

The revelations recently revealed in a Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report detailing a pervasive pattern of child sex abuse within six of eight Catholic Church diocese in the Commonwealth has brought shock and sorrow to not only those affected but observers across the nation as well. The Report, consisting of more than 800 pages, details the…

Taylor & Ring is proud to announce that partner Dave Ring was recognized by the Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journal as a Top Plaintiff Lawyer for 2018. This list honors 30 top plaintiffs’ attorneys who devote 100 percent of their practice to that specialty. The Daily Journal included an article, which looked at…

USC’s Annenberg School of Journalism has announced its temporary removal of the name of Julie Chen/Leslie Moonves and CBS Media Center as a result of a current investigation into allegations of sexual harassment against Mr. Moonves, which he denies. The allegations cover the time period of his tenure at the media giant. Concerning the situation,…

The University of Southern California is currently facing an increasing number of lawsuits over allegations that Dr. George Tyndall, a former campus gynecologist, sexually abused his patients over a period of nearly 30 years. Taylor & Ring is currently representing former patients of Tyndall’s in their cases against him and against USC. If you were…

A group of farmworkers staged a five-day hunger strike in March to protest the fast food chain Wendy’s. The protesters claim the restaurant cut its ties to Florida farms in favor of Mexican labor in order to sidestep worker protections against sexual misconduct, and are calling upon Wendy’s to meet industry standards in the time…

A water polo coach in Orange County is facing dozens of charges after authorities allege he sexually abused underage female players. Bahram Hojreh, 42, reportedly abused the athletes during one-on-one coaching sessions at the International Water Polo Club in Los Alamitos, California, between September 2014 and January 2018. At an arraignment hearing on April 4,…

Schools are supposed to be safe. Teachers are supposed to protect kids from harm. For many students throughout California, however, it is some teachers who are doing the most harm. Voice of San Diego’s recent piece on predatory teachers takes an in-depth look at how school districts throughout California continue to put the safety and…

Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act, also called the Safe Sport Act, was made law on February 14, 2018. The bill was introduced in the Senate in March 2017 by sponsor Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and makes members of amateur sports organizations—including Olympic sports—legally responsible to report sexual abuse and…

The Harvard Business School Association of Orange County (HBSAOC) plans to hold a forum on fighting sexual predators on Thursday, May 10, 2018, entitled “Stop Sexual Predators—Force Change, Right Now.” The forum, focused on practical solutions and actionable change, will feature a multi-speaker panel with all proceeds going toward rape crisis centers and support for…

With the death of Cardinal Bernard Law on December 20 in Rome at age 86, many survivors of the clergy sex abuse scandal dealt with newly opened wounds and fresh memories of their emotional trauma. As head of the Archdiocese of Boston for 19 years, Cardinal Law was forced to resign in 2002 after it…

The USA gymnastics team won medals and our hearts during the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics, with big personalities like Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney, and Gabby Douglas. Unfortunately, they—among dozens and dozens of others—are back in the news with the sentencing of team doctor Larry Nassar during his sentencing hearing January 16. Nassar, a 54-year-old…

As the largest school district in California, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) consists of hundreds of thousands of students, as well as numerous education professionals who are dedicated to serving the educational needs of children and young people. However, despite these credentials, the last several years have left the LAUSD reeling from multiple…