Sexual Assault Lawsuits: Helping Survivors Recover & Secure Compensation

Were you or a loved one sexually assaulted? Our experienced personal injury lawyers may be able to help. In some cases, sexual assault survivors have the ability to pursue financial compensation by filing their own civil lawsuit.

The Importance Of Filing A Civil Lawsuit

Civil litigation can be an important and powerful legal option, one that stands outside the criminal justice system, where, all too often, victims and their needs are forgotten. The criminal justice system is extremely good at bringing perpetrators and their facilitators to justice, but it wasn’t designed to support crime survivors.

Civil lawsuits can pick up the slack. Instead of being used as a glorified piece of evidence, survivors in the civil justice system are empowered to make their own decisions and look out only for their own best interests. Hundreds of women file sexual assault lawsuits every year, but who are they suing?

While you have every right to sue the man or woman who assaulted you, it’s even more common to sue a business or property owner who allowed the assault to occur through their own negligence.

Massage Spa Lawsuits

Negligence is an important legal concept that says certain individuals and businesses have a duty to protect their customers and guests. Take a massage spa for instance, a place like Massage Envy. Massage Envy offers a service that requires clients to be at their most vulnerable, often disrobed, lying on a massage table and hoping to relax.

Because that’s a very vulnerable position, massage spa businesses like Massage Envy or Hand and Stone Massage and Facial Spa have a special duty to protect their clients from any harm that could befall them, including the nonconsensual sexual advances of massage therapists.

Protecting Clients From Dangerous Sexual Predators

How best to protect clients is somewhat of an open question, but there are several best practices in the industry.

Thorough Background Checks

One absolute necessity is to perform thorough background, ensuring that no prospective hire with a history of sexual crimes is let through. That’s a necessity in many industries, including hospitals, nursing facilities and hotels, where clients and guests are likely to drop their guard or be unable to protect themselves.

Hiring a dangerous sexual predator without having first screened them through an adequate background check protocol is a major instance of negligence, one that a massage spa, hotel or other business could be held accountable for in a lawsuit.

Clear Reporting Procedures

Reporting is another consideration. When the unthinkable occurs, when a sexual assault takes place, clients and customers should be given a clear and transparent way to report the assault and take action against the perpetrator.

As we’ve seen in a wave of recent Massage Envy lawsuits, many massage businesses have failed to put adequate reporting policies in place. At Massage Envy, there are a number of reports that franchise employees were even discouraged from reporting assault complaints to the police. If those allegations are true, that would be negligence of the highest order.

Encouraging & Cooperating With Investigations

Follow-up is also important. Businesses where assaults are reported should immediately suspend the alleged perpetrator and cooperate fully with law enforcement professionals in their investigation of the incident.

Needless to say, employees who have been accused of sexual assault should not be transferred to other locations in an effort to make the problem go away, though we’ve heard reports of this in connection to several Massage Envy therapists who were accused of assault.

How To Seek Justice

Every policy in place should make it easier, not harder, for managers and owners to prevent and address sexual assault. But that’s not what we see in the real world. In reality, businesses across the country cut corners every day. Some actively discourage complaints from being made. Real people suffer real injuries because of this negligence on a daily basis.

Filing a civil lawsuit might be the solution. Guiding your own lawsuit, you can win back far more than financial compensation.

Civil litigation is an excellent way to improve safety across the board, since businesses that know they will be sued over negligent conduct are far less likely to actually engage in it in the first place. You can actively protect victims in the future and pursue financial compensation for your medical expenses and other losses – all at the same time.

Contact A Sexual Assault Attorney Today

To learn more about your legal options, contact our experienced sexual assault attorneys today. We can help. We’ve already helped numerous sexual assault survivors regain control over this terrible situation by pursuing a lawsuit. And our results speak for themselves. We’ve recovered hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation for our clients. Now, it’s your turn. Reach out today and find out if you qualify to file a case in a free consultation.