Sexual assault and abuse are among the most traumatic crimes, leaving survivors with long-lasting physical, emotional, and psychological scars. No one should ever have to endure such experiences, but we are here to support survivors on their path to healing.

At Injury Lawyer Team, we are dedicated to protecting the rights of sexual abuse and assault survivors in Syracuse, New York. With our experience, commitment, and empathy, we are ready to stand by survivors, helping them seek justice and begin the healing process.

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Why Choose Injury Lawyer Team

When you choose Injury Lawyer Team, you’re getting an experienced team that has the empathy, compassion, and determination to hold your abuser(s) and the institution that enabled the abuse accountable. Whether you‘ve had one incident or multiple, we’ll be there for you every step of the way.

Our team of attorneys has the experience to tackle any sexual abuse or assault case. We’ll work tirelessly to ensure you get the maximum compensation you deserve and that whoever harmed you isn’t let off the hook.

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Understanding Sexual Abuse and Assault

Sexual assault in New York includes various sexual acts without consent, including penetration. A person under the age of consent in New York, which is 17, cannot legally consent to intercourse, meaning that even if a 15-year-old consents to intercourse, it’s often considered sexual assault.

Sexual abuse is any non-consensual sexual contact. A person can be sexually abused and assaulted. Sexual abuse covers multiple acts, including inappropriate touching, etc.

What sets sexual assault or abuse apart from consensual sexual acts is the matter of consent.

If someone’s mentally unable to consent due to alcohol intake or mental deficiency, it’s not consent. Sometimes, people consent because they were coerced or manipulated, which is still not technically consent. Power imbalances also play a role in these crimes.

Anyone under the age of consent is not considered old enough to consent, automatically making it a crime unless the Romeo and Juliet Laws protect the act. For this exception to apply, a person must be at least 15, and the other person cannot be more than five years older than them.

Various New York laws dictate whether an act is consensual or a crime. Even if a person says yes, it might still be a crime. An experienced lawyer from Rosenfel Injury Lawyers can help you determine if you can file a lawsuit.

Common Forms of Sexual Abuse

Many things are considered sexual assault or abuse. At Injury Lawyer Team, we’ve seen different cases with different forms of abuse. Some of the most common types of sexual abuse or assault are:

Childhood Sexual Abuse: The sexual acts or behavior between any adult and someone under the age of 17.
Statutory Rape: The sexual interactions between an adult and someone who cannot legally consent. This includes an adult and a teenager of a certain age or someone with specific mental deficits.
Rape and Sexual Assault: Non-consensual sexual acts that include penetration of any kind and any force.
Sexual Harassment: This is any unwanted sexual acts or behaviors that don’t include penetration.
Drug-Facilitated Sexual Assault: When someone uses drugs and/or alcohol to incapacitate someone so they cannot consent or give false consent before performing sexual acts on them.
Voyeurism: Watching someone(s) undress or do sexual acts with another person without the person(s) knowledge or consent.
Exhibitionism: When someone shows themselves to others, typically in public, without the consent of those who see what happens.
Incest: Sexual acts between two blood-related family members. This tends to be between an adult and a child, where the adult grooms or manipulates the child into thinking what they do is okay.

Institutions Where Sexual Abuse Is Most Likely to Occur

Even though sexual abuse or assault can happen anywhere, it tends to be prominent in many institutions. We can help those sexually abused or assaulted in the following institutions:

Workplace: Sexual harassment is very common in the workplace, whether it’s seemingly simple sexual comments or asking for sexual favors.
Inpatient Treatment Facilities: We’ll be prepared to help support survivors who have been sexually abused or assaulted while seeking treatment in an inpatient treatment facility.
Prisons and Correctional Facilities: Our correctional facilities and prison systems aren’t perfect, and these crimes still happen within them. We have and will continue to represent those who are sexually abused or assaulted.
Foster Care: Many people within the foster care system are sexually abused or assaulted, but we’ll work to end systemic abuse when this happens.
Daycare Facilities: Children should never feel unsafe anywhere, let alone in their daycare facility, but we’ve handled cases of sexual abuse and assault at daycare facilities and will continue to help those in need.
Educational Institutions: Whether it’s an elementary school or a college campus, we’ll be ready to protect the rights of anyone who is sexually abused or assaulted on the campus.
Religious Institutions: We’re serious about holding those who commit clergy abuse accountable for their actions.
Nursing Homes: There are a lot of elderly people who are susceptible to elder abuse, and we’ll be there to protect their rights.
Sports Clubs: Whether the athlete is five or 35, they can be sexually abused by their team doctors or coaches.
Military Institutions: Despite the military wanting to handle things in military court, most of the time, we’ll be ready to help those in our military secure the compensation they deserve for sexual abuse or assault.
Hotels and Short-Term Rentals: Even though these locations have a transient nature, no one deserves to be sexually assaulted or abused, but we’re here if that happens.
Shelters: People seek a safe place within shelters, and when sexual abuse or assault happens, it can be even more traumatic in shelters.

Steps to Take If You Are a Victim of Sexual Assault

Your safety is the top priority after any sexual abuse or assault. If you’re not sure what to do, here are some steps that you’ll want to think about afterward if you’re able to:

Get Somewhere Safe: The first thing you need to do is get somewhere safe. If you can’t get yourself anywhere, calling 911 can help.
Go to the Hospital: Even if you don’t have any visible injuries, you should go to the hospital for a check-up. This is important for your health and any documentation surrounding the incident.
Ask for a Rape Kit: Also known as a sexual assault forensic exam. This is there to help preserve any DNA evidence that might be left from your abuser(s).
Preserve Any Evidence: In addition to the rape kit, you’ll want to try to preserve as much evidence as possible. This means not showering or washing any of the clothes you were wearing at the time of the assault or abuse.
Report the Assault to the Police: Call the Syracuse police department or the appropriate agency to report the sexual abuse or assault.
Seek Support: It’s essential to rely on the people you trust during this time. In addition to that, there are support services through organizations like the New York State Coalition Against Sexual Assault (NYSCASA)
Document Everything: Write down everything you can about the abuse or assault before, during, and after. Documentation can help build your case.
Contact a Sexual Assault Attorney: You’ll want to work with an attorney with experience with cases like yours, so you have someone to help you get justice.

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Compensation for Sexual Abuse Victims

Injury Lawyer Team knows that no amount of money can change what happened. We’re here to help do what we can in the process. Compensation won’t change things, but it can help in the process of healing:

Medical and Therapy Expenses: We can recover compensation for the medical expenses for the injuries you sustained during the abuse or assault and therapy.
Loss of Enjoyment of Life: If you can’t remotely enjoy the everyday activities you usually would have, we can seek compensation.
Lost Wages: We can help get compensation for lost wages due to missed work.
Pain and Suffering: We work hard to get compensation when you’ve suffered emotional and physical injuries in your case.
Punitive Damages: In the case of extreme negligence, we can sue for additional negligence for higher compensation.

As we fight for compensation in your case, we’ll go for the maximum, but what we can fight for depends on the specifics of your case. What influences the total settlement you might get are:

The degree of negligence by the institutions involved
The severity and duration of the sexual abuse
The impact the abuse or assault has had on your life
The strength of the evidence

Liability in Sexual Abuse Cases

We can go to court against the person who committed the sexual abuse or assault against you, but in many cases, it’s not just the perpetrator who we can hold liable. Many institutions can be held liable in these types of cases. We have had success in holding institutions liable for what happened to survivors based on things like:

Failure to Report: Choosing not to report suspected or confirmed sexual abuse or assault, regardless of whether the institution is a mandated reporting institution or not.
Negligent Hiring: Knowingly hiring someone who has committed or has been suspected of committing a crime or not thoroughly background chekcing an employee.
Inadequate Supervision: When an institution doesn’t supervise their employees adequately, a crime occurs.
Negligent Retention: This is when an employer knowingly keeps an employee who has been suspected or confirmed to have committed a sex crime on their staff.

If we’re going to hold institutions liable for their actions that are involved in what happened to you, we can hold them responsible with these principles:

Title IX: This law requires educational institutions to have additional requirements to have sexual abuse prevention methods in place.
Vicarious Liability: Using this, we can ensure that any institution is liable for their employees’ actions.
Charitable Immunity: This makes sure that even charitable organizations can be held accountable for those who commit sexual abuse and assault at their events or if they worked at one.

How to Prove a Sexual Abuse Case

The legal team at Injury Lawyer Team has worked on several sexual abuse and assault cases. The comprehensive approach that helps us prove what happened to the survivor includes the following:

Gathering as much evidence as we can surrounding the sexual abuse or assault
Establishing negligence and misconduct by the institution and/or perpetrator
Demonstrating the harm that the incident caused
Gathering expert testimony that validates the sexual abuse or assault
Linking the sexual abuse to the damages the incident caused
Investigating everything there is about your claim

Let’s discuss the specifics of your case

How Our Syracuse Sexual Abuse Lawyers Can Help

If you or someone you care about has been sexually abused or assaulted in Syracuse, our legal team is ready to help. At Injury Lawyer Team, we can help survivors by:

Providing a Safe and Confidential Space: We will provide a safe and confidential space for every survivor to talk about what happened to them.
Thoroughly Investigating Claims: We’ll go through everything with a fine tooth comb to ensure we build your best case.
Building Strong Cases: Our legal team will gather and organize as much evidence as possible to ensure we build the strongest case possible.
Offering Sexual Assault Support Resources: We’ll provide you with different sexual abuse and assault resources in Syracuse.
Handling Opposing Counsel Communications: You won’t have to worry about speaking with your abuser(s) or their counselor because we’ll handle that for you.
Pursuing the Maximum Compensation: While no amount of money will erase what happened, we’ll pursue the maximum compensation we can for your case.
Negotiating Settlements: We’ll work to handle your case outside of court so you don’t have to go to trial and can get your compensation faster.
Fighting in Court: If your case goes to court, we will fight for the maximum compensation and protect your rights.

The Time Limits for Filing a Claim in Syracuse, NY

It’s perfectly normal for sexual abuse and assault survivors not to want to seek justice right away. Whether it’s because they’re not ready or they’re not fully aware that what happened to them is sexual assault or abuse, there’s no requirement that you have to come forward immediately.

While it’s okay to wait, there is a statute of limitations on sexual abuse and assault in Syracuse, New York. This puts limits on when the survivor can officially file a lawsuit against their abuser(s) and the institutions involved.

Until the Child Victims Act was passed in 2019, those who were sexually abused or assaulted when they were under 18 years old had until their 23rd birthday to file a lawsuit. Once the CVA was passed, those under 18 at the time of their abuse have until they turn 55.

For adults who suffered sexual abuse or assault, the statute of limitations was only three years. Similar to the CVA that was passed in 2019, the Adult Survivors Act (AVA) passed. This allowed the statute of limitations to move from three to 20 years.

Those who were sexually abused or assaulted as adults before the AVA passed but the three years were up had a one-year window to file a lawsuit. Now, as long as the incident happened after the act passed, they have 20 years.

Contact a Syracuse Sexual Abuse Lawyer Today!

Jonathan Rosenfeld, Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer

If you or a loved one has been sexually abused or assaulted, Injury Lawyer Team is in your corner. We’ll protect your rights and help hold those responsible accountable in Syracuse, New York. We’ll ensure you feel safe and will advocate for your best interests every step of the way.

Our attorneys and legal team understand how sensitive these cases are, and we’ll do everything we can to ensure that you feel as comfortable as possible throughout the process. We handle all our cases with the compassion and attention they deserve. Book a free, confidential consultation by calling 866-757-6452 or completing our online form.

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