Answers
Questions About Sexual Abuse Claims in New Jersey
The questions below are the ones people actually ask before they call, answered directly rather than in general terms. Questions about a specific setting, a school, a church, a daycare, a doctor, a foster placement, are answered on the page for that setting, and questions about deadlines on the filing deadlines page.
Free, confidential, and no obligation. You decide what happens next, and you can stop at any point.
Where the rest of the answers are
This page holds the general questions. The ones that depend on where the abuse happened are answered on the page for that setting, because the duties an organization owed, and the records that exist, are genuinely different in each.
- Schools, teachers and coaches
- Churches, clergy and religious organizations
- Daycare and childcare
- Doctors, hospitals and therapists
- Foster care, group homes and residential facilities
- Abuse suffered in childhood, whoever brings the claim
Three questions come up often enough to have pages of their own:
- How long do I have to file? Until 55 if you were abused as a child, or seven years from discovery, whichever is later.
- What did the 2019 law change? The reason a claim you were told was too late may not be.
- How can an organization be responsible for something it did not do?
If your question is not here
Ask it. The call is free, it is confidential, and asking a question is not starting a claim. If the answer is that there is nothing here, you will be told that plainly.
Questions people ask
What proof is required for a sexual abuse claim?
Less than people assume, and a different kind. A civil claim is decided on the balance of probabilities, not beyond reasonable doubt, and it does not require physical evidence, a medical record, a witness or a conviction. Your own account is evidence. Around it, a claim is built from records held by the institution: personnel files, complaint logs, internal investigations, transfer histories and insurance policies. Obtaining those is work done inside the claim, not something you need first.
Is it hard to win a sexual abuse case?
It is serious litigation and it is not quick, but the assumption that it is close to hopeless is wrong, and it comes from thinking about criminal cases. The civil standard is lower, and claims against institutions turn substantially on documents rather than on one person's word against another's. The most common reason a claim fails is never being brought.
What kind of lawyer do I need?
Someone who does civil claims for abuse survivors, particularly against institutions. That is a different practice from criminal law, from family law, and from ordinary personal injury work, because the substance of it is institutional records and the duties an organization owed.
Can I sue for emotional distress in New Jersey?
The psychological harm caused by sexual abuse is a central part of what these claims recover, not an add-on. Emotional distress as a free-standing claim in other contexts has its own requirements, but you do not need a separate theory for the mental health consequences of abuse.
What is the difference between a criminal case and a civil claim?
A criminal case is brought by the state to punish someone, and you are a witness in it. A civil claim is brought by you, seeks compensation, is decided to a lower standard of proof, and you control whether it starts, continues and settles. They are independent, and a civil claim can proceed where nobody was charged.
How much does it cost to speak to someone?
Nothing. The call is free and confidential, and a claim is handled on contingency, which means no fee unless it succeeds. Nothing is payable up front at any stage.
What should I not say to a lawyer?
There is nothing you need to withhold, and this question usually comes from a fear of being judged or of saying something that ruins the case. Be accurate rather than certain. Saying that you do not remember, or are not sure, is far better than filling a gap. What you say is confidential whether or not you become a client.
Do I need to remember exact dates?
No. Approximate ages, school years, or which house you were living in are usually enough to place events, and records fill in the rest. Nobody expects a survivor to produce a calendar.
What if I do not want to sue anyone, I just want to know?
That is a completely ordinary reason to call and it is a good one. Asking whether you have a claim is not bringing one, and nothing starts because you asked. A number of people call once, get an answer, and never do anything further.
Will anyone contact my family, my employer or my school?
Not because you asked a question. Nothing leaves a first conversation. If a claim were later filed, what becomes visible and to whom is explained to you in advance and the decision is yours.
What if the person who abused me has died?
A claim may still be possible, particularly against an institution responsible for putting them where they were. An organization's responsibility does not end with the death of the individual.
What if I am not sure it was serious enough to count?
This is the most common reason people give for not calling, and it is not a reason. Sexual abuse covers a great deal more than the worst thing you can imagine, including conduct without physical contact. Being unsure is precisely what a free call is for.
How do I check that a lawyer is really licensed in New Jersey?
Every New Jersey attorney has a bar number and a public record with the Supreme Court of New Jersey showing their admission date and current standing. Ask any lawyer for their number and check it yourself. Joe's is 032141988, admitted in January 1989, and it is printed on this site precisely so you do not have to ask.
What should I ask a sexual abuse lawyer before deciding?
Four questions tell you most of what you need. How many cases like mine have you taken to trial rather than settled. Who will actually handle my case day to day, you or someone I have not met. What happens if we disagree about whether to accept a settlement. And what does this cost me if the claim does not succeed. A lawyer who answers all four plainly is showing you how they will communicate later.
Is a free consultation actually free?
It should be, and here it is. Nothing is charged for the conversation, whether or not you go ahead, and whether or not there turns out to be a claim. If a claim does proceed it is handled on a contingency basis, meaning the fee is a percentage of what is recovered and there is no fee if nothing is recovered. Ask any firm to confirm that in writing before you sign.
How do I know whether a lawyer has handled a case like mine?
Ask about the defendant rather than the abuse. Suing a school district, a diocese, a hospital or a state agency each involve different rules, different immunities and different records to obtain. A lawyer who has sued that type of institution before knows where the documents are kept and what the organization will argue. That matters more than whether they have handled your specific setting.
Does it matter whether the firm is large or small?
Less than people expect, and not in the direction the advertising suggests. What matters is who handles the case. Some large firms give a survivor's case to a junior lawyer they never meet, and some small firms lack the resources to fight an insurer for three years. Ask who does the work and what happens if the case goes to trial, then judge the answer.
Another lawyer already told me I had no case. Is that the end of it?
Not necessarily, and this is worth a second conversation rather than an assumption. New Jersey's deadlines for sexual abuse changed substantially in 2019, and people turned away under the old rules are sometimes inside the current ones. Lawyers also decline cases for reasons that have nothing to do with merit, including that the case is outside what they handle.