Title IX
New Jersey Title IX Lawyer for Sexual Abuse and Assault
Title IX requires schools and colleges that receive federal funding to respond to reports of sexual harassment and assault, and a school that ignored your report, delayed it, or handled it so badly that it made things worse can be liable for that failure. This is a claim about the institution's response, which is separate from any claim about the abuse itself.
Free, confidential, and no obligation. You decide what happens next, and you can stop at any point.
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- 37 yearsAdmitted in New Jersey in 1989
- No fee unless you winCases are handled on contingency
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What people get wrong about Title IX
Almost everyone who calls about this has been through a school process already, and most have been left with the wrong impression of what it was.
“The Title IX process already decided, so it is over.”
A school’s internal determination is not a court judgment and it does not bind anyone. Schools run these processes themselves, frequently badly, and the way one was conducted is often the evidence in a later claim rather than an obstacle to it.
“They found in my favor but nothing actually changed.”
A finding without a remedy is a recurring pattern. Where a school concluded that something happened and then left you in the same classes, the same dormitory or the same team as the person who did it, the failure is in the response rather than in the finding.
“It happened at college, so it is not really abuse.”
Title IX covers sexual harassment and assault at every level of education, and the fact that you were an adult student does not put it outside the statute. Nor does it prevent a separate civil claim about the assault itself.
“I did not report it formally at the time.”
Formal reporting is not always required for a school to be on notice. What matters is what the institution actually knew, and knowledge frequently reached it through a resident advisor, a coach, a professor or a counselor without a form ever being filled in.
What a Title IX claim actually covers
Title IX is a federal statute that applies to schools, colleges and universities receiving federal funding, which in practice is nearly all of them. It requires an institution to respond to sexual harassment and assault that it knows about.
A claim under it is about the institution’s response. Was there deliberate indifference to a report, was the response so unreasonable that it caused further harm, and was the person left in an environment they could no longer learn in. That is a different question from whether the abuse happened, and it can succeed even where the individual is never held to account.
A Title IX claim frequently runs alongside a state-law claim against the same institution for negligent supervision or retention. They are not alternatives.
Who is legally responsible
The failures a Title IX claim identifies are institutional and procedural, and they tend to leave a documented trail.
- Deliberate indifference to a report. The institution knew and its response was clearly unreasonable in the circumstances.
- Failure to take interim measures. No change to class schedules, housing, team participation or campus access while a complaint was outstanding, leaving the person in daily contact with the respondent.
- A process that caused further harm. Repeated re-interviewing, disclosure to people who did not need to know, or pressure to withdraw a complaint.
- Retaliation. Grades, discipline, housing, financial aid, playing time or a place on a program affected after a report was made.
- Prior knowledge of the same person. Where earlier complaints existed about the same individual and nothing was done, the institution’s knowledge is established before your report ever arrived.
How institutions are held liable for sexual abuse in New Jersey
Where these claims arise
Title IX applies across the whole of education, not only on campuses.
- Colleges and universities, including residence halls and Greek organizations
- Public K-12 school districts
- Charter schools and publicly funded programs
- Athletics programs at every level
- Study abroad and off-campus programs run by the institution
- Clinical placements, internships and practicums
- Graduate programs, where a supervisor controls a student’s academic future
- Campus disciplinary and conduct processes themselves
Title IX and a civil claim are not the same thing
People frequently arrive believing they have to choose. A Title IX claim addresses the institution’s response to what it knew. A civil claim under state law addresses the abuse and the institution’s own negligence in allowing it. They involve different standards, different remedies and different deadlines, and it is common to pursue both.
What matters practically is that a disappointing Title IX outcome does not close off the other route, and a great many people assume that it does.
What to do now
- Keep everything from the process. The complaint you filed, every email from the Title IX office, the notice of outcome, the investigation report and any appeal. These are the core documents of a later claim.
- Write down who you told and when, including informal disclosures to a resident advisor, coach, professor or counselor. Institutional notice frequently arrives this way.
- Do not sign a no-contact or resolution agreement without understanding what it gives up. Some are ordinary safety measures; others include releases.
Emergency and hotline numbers, including the New Jersey child abuse hotline, are at the foot of every page on this site.
What a claim can recover
Depending on the claim, the cost of counseling and treatment, the educational and financial consequences of leaving a program or transferring, lost earning capacity where a career path was interrupted, and the harm itself.
There is no fee unless a claim succeeds, and no cost to asking whether you have one.
How long do you have to file in New Jersey?
If you were abused as a child, you can generally bring a civil claim in New Jersey until your 55th birthday, or within seven years of realizing that your injuries are connected to the abuse, whichever of those is later.
If you were an adult when the abuse happened, the period is generally seven years from the incident, or seven years from the point at which you connected the harm to it.
New Jersey also ran a two-year lookback window, from December 1, 2019 to November 30, 2021, during which claims that had already expired could be brought regardless of age. That window has closed. It is worth being clear about, because people hear that it closed and conclude they have missed everything, when the ordinary deadlines above are separate and often still leave years.
Which of these applies to you, and when your seven years started, depends on facts specific to you. A short confidential call will tell you where you actually stand.
Free, confidential, and no obligation. You decide what happens next, and you can stop at any point.
Cases Joe has resolved
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$6.1 Million Recovery
for a woman who was sexually assaulted after being overserved alcohol.
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$4.5 Million Settlement
for a minor who was sexually abused as a student by a staff member at her public school.
Results may vary depending on your particular facts and legal circumstance. Every case turns on its own facts, and no result here predicts what any other case is worth.
Questions people ask
Can I bring a Title IX claim if the school found in the other person's favor?
Yes. The school's internal determination does not bind a court, and how the process reached that conclusion is frequently central to the claim.
Does Title IX apply to private schools and colleges?
It applies to institutions receiving federal funding, which includes most private colleges and universities. Whether a particular K-12 private school is covered depends on its funding, and a state-law claim may be available regardless.
I graduated years ago. Is it too late?
It depends on which claim and on your facts. Title IX and state-law claims have different deadlines, and New Jersey's state-law deadlines for sexual abuse are considerably longer than most people expect. It is worth asking rather than assuming.
Is this the same as a criminal case?
No. Title IX is a civil statute about an institution's obligations. A criminal case is brought by the state against an individual. They are independent, and neither has to happen first.
The school says the process is confidential and I cannot discuss it.
Confidentiality obligations imposed by a school do not generally prevent you from taking legal advice about your own experience. Bring whatever you were told about confidentiality to the call.
What if the person who assaulted me was a professor or supervisor?
That adds an authority relationship to the analysis, in the same way it does with a teacher and a student, and it usually strengthens rather than complicates a claim.
What if I was retaliated against after reporting?
Retaliation is itself actionable under Title IX and is often the clearest documented part of a claim, because the adverse action, a grade, a housing change, a removal from a team, has a date attached to it.
What must a school do once it receives a report of sexual harassment?
It has to respond, and the response has to be reasonable in the circumstances rather than merely recorded. In practice that means taking interim steps so the person reporting is not left in daily contact with the person they reported, investigating rather than waiting, and not treating the complaint itself as the problem. A school that does none of this while a complaint sits open is where a Title IX claim usually begins.
If you are still reading
People usually read a page like this several times over several weeks before they contact anyone. That is normal, and there is no deadline on this page trying to push you. When you are ready, the call is free and it stays between you and Joe.
Free, confidential, and no obligation. You decide what happens next, and you can stop at any point.