Former Teacher in Ventura County Pleads Guilty to Sexually Abusing Student

Yes, you can sue if a teacher or any other school employee engaged with you in a sexual manner while you were a student. This is classified as child sexual abuse, and it includes a wide array of conduct, like inappropriate touching, sexting, showing a minor pornography, and coercing a child into oral sex or intercourse. Essentially, any verbal, physical, or digital interaction of a sexual nature with a student is considered abuse, and if the student is underage (below 18 years old), the perpetrator is guilty of child sexual abuse.

Now, let’s explore the concept of school systems being liable for sexual misconduct by a teacher, sports coach, janitor, nurse, and anyone else that works with the students. As previously mentioned, Oak Grove School and the Krishnamurti Foundation of America have been accused of trying to “coverup” evidence of sexual abuse by Paul Herder. Sadly, this is very typical in cases of student sexual assault and harassment. Through decades of representing school sex abuse victims, we have uncovered file after file of letters, emails, and other documents where it’s clear that the administrators knew what was going on. Even worse, they were more concerned about how to resolve the matter without causing a scandal or being forced to participate in a police investigation.

At the very least, you would expect the teacher to be fired immediately. But most of these child molesters keep their jobs, thereby allowing the abuse to go on for many years. At some point, if there are too many accusations by students and parents, the offender is asked to leave, but there is no mention of why they had to resign. That may be what happened with Herder, who has held previous teaching jobs in several cities in the U.S., and even taught outside the country in England, Thailand, and Panama.

For every one student that speaks out and files charges, there are dozens – maybe even hundreds – of others who were sexually abused by teachers like Paul Herder. That’s why we are dedicated to holding school boards and districts responsible when they are negligent in their duty of care to the students they serve.

A lawsuit for sexually abusing an underage student can be worth between $1,500,000 and $5,000,000 on average. Within this range, you are likely to find higher values for lawsuits that involve sexual assault versus sexual harassment. For example, a lawsuit for sexual assault of an underage student is likely to settle for $2,000,000 to $10,000,000. However, if we are looking at civil claims based on sexual harassment of a student, the amount of compensation may be less than $1,000,000. However, you can generally assume that payments from lawsuits for sexual abuse by a teacher are between 6 and 7 figures.

No matter what type of abuse took place, there are circumstances that will increase the amount you can receive as a victim of child sexual abuse. This includes covering up or destroying evidence of sex abuse against a minor, which is a claim that was made by the victim who was assaulted by Paul Herder while attending the Oak Grove School. This is unlawful conduct that constitutes gross negligence, and it’s a major factor in why some of these settlements exceed the $5,000,000 mark.

Ultimately, the average settlement for school sexual abuse lawsuits is limited information that may or may not reflect the value of your own lawsuit. We can help you figure this out during a free, private consultation, so please reach out to us at your earliest convenience.

Based on our experience with these lawsuits, we estimate that most lawsuits for sexual abuse of a student take around 1 to 2 years before they settle. Not every case will fall within this timeline; lawsuits can be settled within 6 months or take over 3 years from start to finish.  But we would say that 6 months is very fast and quite rare when it comes to lawsuits against school districts and private schools. If anything, there will be a prolonged period of denying liability and making settlement offers that are completely inadequate for what the victim has gone through.

A child sexual assault lawyer is critical to ensuing that you end up with a reasonable amount of compensation. You will also need an attorney if your case has to be tried in court, though we want to point out that over 95% of these cases do not require a trial. Nevertheless, you want a skilled and experienced legal advocate by your side, who will fight to bring you the highest possible settlement.

A civil claim for sexual abuse between a teacher and underage student must be filed no later than 22 years from whenever you turn 18 years old. Under this guideline, you will need to sue the school system by your 40^th birthday, but there is an exception for those who do not discover how they were harmed by child sexual abuse until they are past the age of 40.

As you are probably aware, children are confused and scared by events like sexual abuse, and many of them repress the incidents instead of going to someone for help. But even if they do, staff members and administrators at a school may not be helpful. If anything, they shame the victim or somehow convince them that it was a misunderstanding. Or, they assure the student and their loved ones that an investigation will be conducted, but the case is soon forgotten about.

For these and many other reasons, it’s natural for a child to push away memories of sexual abuse by a teacher and try to go on as if nothing happened. In reality, the trauma they are left with will likely result in mental health issues, i.e., injuries from childhood sexual abuse. It can take decades for a victim to come to this realization, and they may have exceeded the statute of limitations for a child sex abuse lawsuit by then. Fortunately, they have a 5-year window if they wish to file a lawsuit from the date of learning about a mental health of physical injury caused by sexual abuse from a teacher at their school.

Speaking with a school sexual abuse lawyer is a critical step in the recovery process, but you may be wondering how much it will cost you to meet with us. No worries, as we offer a Zero Fee Guarantee for the entire duration of your case. We never ask clients to pay out of pocket, and instead, demand the cost of legal fees from the negligent party. Our fees are paid to us as a part of your settlement check, so there’s no cost to you whatsoever if we don’t win your case.

Our legal experts are standing by to assist you, so contact our office and schedule a free case evaluation if you were sexually abused by former Ventura County teacher Paul Herder.