Harbor View Center Sexual Abuse Lawyer

Yes, you are eligible for a lawsuit if you were sexually abused due to negligence by the people working at the Harbor View Center or the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health. These entities have a duty of care to you as someone that is receiving treatment at one of their facilities. That means they have an obligation to protect you from incidents that result in bodily harm and/or emotional trauma.

Of course, there is no way to prevent every single case of sexual assault or exploitation at a hospital or mental health clinic. The key is to take reasonable measures, like adequate security, thorough employee screening procedures, and training workers to recognize the signs of abuse. Additionally, there should be a clear and immediate protocol that everyone follows if they suspect or hear about abuse that’s taking place against one of the patients.

In all honesty, many psychiatric institutions are plagued with a culture of neglect and abuse. Administrators often know who the abusive employees are, but they fail to fire them or hold them accountable in some other way. They also do little to nothing to help the victim, who is understandably confused and overwhelmed by what they just went through. These weaknesses are often exploited by county officials in order to silence the victim or mislead them on their legal rights.

We know that coming forward with allegations of sexual abuse can be very difficult, especially when you are going up against a powerful entity like the County of Los Angeles. We want to assure you that our lawyers have decades of experience in lawsuits against public entities at the city, county, and state level. We are not afraid to call these people out on what they did to you and fight to bring you every penny you deserve as someone that was sexually abused at the Harbor View Center.

Payments for sex abuse lawsuits can be within the range of $400,000 to $10,000,000, with child sexual abuse cases generating higher payments on average than abuse claims involving adults. Claims for the sexual abuse of a minor at the Harbor View Center may be worth between $2,500,000 to $5,000,000, with the most extreme cases nearing or exceeding the $10,000,000 mark. But there are certainly settlements on behalf of adult physical and sexual abuse victims that are within this range.

At the end of the day, figuring out the amount of compensation for those who were sexually abused is not a simple matter. It requires learning the details of what you were subjected to and how these incidents affected many areas of your life. Though settlement values are generally 6 to 7 figures for these lawsuits, we will need to speak with you in person to determine how much you are entitled to from a Harbor View Center sexual misconduct lawsuit.

Some lawsuits for sexual abuse take just a few months from start to finish, but realistically, it will probably take over 1 year to settle your case. At the moment, Los Angeles is dealing with a backlog of claims for sexual abuse at juvenile halls, foster care homes, and other facilities that they are in charge of. Thus, we are looking at a time period of 12 to 24 months to reach a settlement for the vast majority of lawsuits against Harbor View Center.

In rare instances, a case may be tried in court, and that means it will take 3 years or longer to bring justice to a victim of sexual abuse at a mental health facility. But the trial process isn’t necessary for over 95% of these cases, so we would say that 1 to 2 years is a good timeframe to keep in mind if you are wondering how long it takes to settle a Harbor View Center sexual abuse lawsuit.

Adults who were sexually assaulted or exploited by someone at the Harbor View Center can file a compensation claim within 10 years of the incident. Or, if you were subjected to numerous incidents to abuse, your statute of limitations would begin on the most recent date of assault, harassment, etc.

As a victim of childhood sexual abuse, meaning you were under 18 at the time, your deadline for a lawsuit is the age of 40. Essentially, you have 22 years after you turn 18 to sue for monetary damages, which is a generous amount of time. However, you are not always bound to a specific age limit when you are a victim of sexual abuse as a minor.

Those who experienced traumatic events like sexual or physical abuse tend to repress these events and run from the memories again and again. When this happens for many years, it’s more than likely that the victim will have significant mental health issues that are disruptive to their life. It’s not until they are much older that most of these individuals see the link between sexual abuse at the Harbor View Center and the conditions they are currently suffering from. This is known as a delayed discovery of injuries that were caused by sexual abuse.

Even if the victim is older than 40 at the point of discovery, California law provides them with 5 years to sue Los Angeles County and any other entity that’s liable for their harm and suffering. Due to these and other circumstances that may affect how long you have for a lawsuit, we recommend that you contact a sexual assault lawyer to discuss the details of your case.

Our sole motivation is to help victims achieve justice and move forward from an incident they should never have experienced. With that in mind, we know that the cost of hiring a lawyer may be holding you back from contacting us. Don’t worry, since all of our attorneys work on contingency and wait until the end of your case to receive payment from the county of Los Angeles. In the event we fail to win your case, there is a Zero Fee Guarantee to ensure that you pay $0 in legal fees.

Please take a moment to contact our law firm and talk to a lawyer who can help you file a lawsuit if you were sexually abused at the Harbor View Center.

Other Pages on Our Website Related to This Topic
Los Angeles County Mental Health Juvenile Detention Center Sexual Abuse Lawyer
Juvenile Justice Correctional Complex Sexual Abuse Attorney
Division of Juvenile Justice Sexual Abuse Attorney