Sexual Abuse

Prior to the pandemic, your kids typically spent 8 hours a day with other children and adults. Even now, whether your kids have landed back in classrooms for face to face learning or they’re getting their education remotely, they’re generally not under your strict supervision while sitting in front of their online classes. Their teachers…

The common perception about sexual crimes and those who commit them are that they are committed by adult men mostly against women and sometimes against children. However, the perpetrators of sexual abuse are sometimes children committing offenses against other children. Almost 1 in 3 perpetrators of child sex abuse are below the age of 18.…

A recently published Vatican manual on how to handle sexual abuse allegations within the Catholic Church instructs bishops to report all of these allegations to law enforcement, even when there is no legal obligation to do so. The manual directs ecclesiastical authorities to produce a report and provide it to relevant civil authorities if it…

On July 27, 2020, former NFL player Dana Stubblefield was convicted of multiple charges, including rape by force, oral copulation by force and false imprisonment. His victim (“Jane Doe”) was 31-year-olds old when Stubblefield raped her in 2015. According to her attorneys, Jane has developmental disabilities. The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) estimates…

A recent ruling upholding the constitutionality of New York state’s “look-back law” for sexual abuse lawsuits gives victims of abuse and their attorneys improved ability to bring a lawsuit. Attorneys and plaintiffs across the country praised the decision, saying it sets a precedent for more victims to come forward and prosecute their abusers, even if…

Normandie Burgos, a well-known coach in the Bay Area, was convicted of 60 counts of child molestation in May 2019 and sentenced to 255 years in prison. Despite being arrested for the second time in 2014 for charges of abusing one of his players, Burgos was allowed to continue coaching until 2017. He was arrested…

Millions of Americans have been told to shelter-in-place or stay-at-home since the pandemic reached the United States. Even though many Americans will be safe while staying home, millions are not safe in their own homes due to domestic violence. In fact, more than 10 million Americans experience some form of domestic violence every year. Removing…

A decision in November of last year by the District Court of Massachusetts has helped clear up the issue of employer liability when illegal sex trafficking occurs on an employer’s property. The case – Ricchio v. Bijal – involves Lisa Ricchio, the victim, who was kidnapped by Clark McLean, the defendant. Ricchio was held against…

The University of Southern California (USC) has agreed to make significant changes to the process it follows for reporting sexual misconduct allegations in light of the findings of a federal investigation. The school has agreed to these procedural changes after systematic failures were discovered in the school’s handling of abuse allegations against George Tyndall, former…

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,…