Newfoundland Sexual Abuse Lawyers

Much of the Canadian law of institutional abuse was written in this province’s courtrooms. The Mount Cashel orphanage cases, the claims against the Christian Brothers and the archdiocese, and the decisions that followed them established one thing. A church, a school or a home can be liable for what a person it placed in charge of children did to them. Section 8(2) of the Limitations Act, SNL 1995, c L-16.1 then removed the deadline for these claims outright. A Newfoundland sexual abuse lawyer works in that setting, where the law already accepts the claim and the work left is building the evidence.

The Claim Usually Names the Abuser and the Institution

The first defendant is the person. The claim against them is battery, which needs no proof beyond the sexual contact itself. In most cases that defendant is an estate or a pensioner with little to recover from. The second is the institution, whether the archdiocese, the school board, the minor hockey association, the foster agency, the treatment centre or the province. Liability there is in negligence, for the warnings ignored and the transfers that moved a problem rather than solving it. It is also vicarious, where the institution’s structure gave the abuser the authority and the privacy that made the abuse possible. The money comes from the institution’s insurers, past and present. A Newfoundland sexual abuse lawyer traces them even where the institution itself is gone.

A Court Awards General, Aggravated, Therapy, Earnings and Punitive Damages

General damages for the abuse and its lifelong consequences. Aggravated damages for the breach of trust. The cost of therapy, past and future. The earnings that a derailed education never produced. Where an institution hid what it knew, punitive damages. The Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador has decided enough of these claims that the range is known, and the claims process that followed the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of St. John’s insolvency confirmed the range those courts had already set.

The Court Process Protects the Claimant’s Identity at Every Stage

Initials on the public record. A sealed file. Closed court for the evidence that needs it. Discovery takes place in a lawyer’s boardroom instead of a courtroom. Mediation with the insurers before any trial. We use a criminal conviction where there was one. The absence of one, or an acquittal, does not stop the civil claim. The standard is a balance of probabilities, and the survivor controls the case.

The St. John’s office takes these claims from every part of the island and Labrador. The first meeting is with a lawyer, alone, at no cost.

The Abuse Was in a Residential School or a Provincial Institution.

Federal and provincial settlement programs have covered some of these. Whether a release was signed, and what it covers, decides how the claim proceeds. Claims outside those programs proceed in the ordinary way.

The Archdiocese Has Been Through Insolvency. Is Anything Left?

The insolvency addressed the claims filed within it. Claims against other institutions, and claims that were not part of that process, are assessed on their own facts. Do not assume the answer.

Will My Family Find Out?

Not from the court file, where you can be identified by initials, and not from us. Who you tell is your decision.

Do I Need to Have Reported It to the Police?

No. The civil claim does not depend on a report, a charge or a conviction.

The firm’s guide to suing for sexual assault describes the civil process the province shares. The injury law areas page lists the other kinds of claims the firm handles.

No Fee Unless the Claim Resolves

The first call is free and a lawyer takes it. There is no fee unless the claim resolves. The St. John’s office opens the file. Contact the firm, or read what the firm can do.