A sexual assault lawsuit is a civil claim. It runs separately from any criminal charge, it is controlled by the survivor rather than the Crown, it is decided on a balance of probabilities, and in New Brunswick there is no deadline to file it. This page explains how it differs from criminal court, who can be sued, what damages are available, how discovery works, and how the defendant’s insurance is reached.
A Sexual Assault Lawsuit Compensates the Survivor and Holds the Abuser to Account
The civil claim holds the abuser, and often the institution behind them, financially accountable. Its purpose is compensation for the harm: the therapy, the lost income, the years of damage. Money does not undo what happened, but it pays for the treatment that follows.
The firm runs these files in a trauma-informed way. The strategy is built around the client’s mental health, and the stress of the process moves from the survivor to counsel.
The Compensation Pays for Therapy and Lost Income
Civil litigation is about restitution. Survivors face therapy bills, lost wages and other concrete costs. Years of specialised psychological therapy are expensive and rarely covered in full by provincial health care. A settlement funds that therapy for as long as it is needed.
Untreated trauma also interrupts work. Compensation replaces lost wages and the income the abuse took away. A survivor who left school early, changed careers to avoid a trigger, or cannot hold a job through a depressive episode has a loss that can be measured and claimed.
The Lawsuit Forces the Abuser and the Institution to Answer
For many survivors the lawsuit is the first time they control the account of what happened. It forces the abuser, or the institution that enabled them, to answer in court. A judgment against an institution can force it to change its policies.
A Sexual Assault Lawsuit Differs From Criminal Court in Purpose, Proof and Control
Survivors often confuse the two. They are separate systems with different objectives, different evidence rules and different outcomes.
In criminal court the Crown prosecutes on behalf of the state, the aim is punishment, and the survivor is a witness. The criminal process pays the victim almost nothing. A restitution order is possible but rare, and it never covers the cost of years of therapy or a lost career.
In a civil claim the survivor is the plaintiff, hires their own lawyer, and the object is damages paid by the defendant to the plaintiff.
The Civil Standard Is a Balance of Probabilities
The criminal standard is proof beyond a reasonable doubt. It is high, and many prosecutions end in acquittal.
The civil standard is a balance of probabilities: more likely than not. A civil claim can succeed where the criminal case failed, where police laid no charge, and after an acquittal. The acquittal does not bar the lawsuit. The civil judge decides the case fresh, on the civil evidence and the civil standard, and is not bound by what the criminal court found.
The Plaintiff Controls the Civil Claim
In criminal court the Crown decides everything, including plea deals and whether to drop the charge. Survivors find that loss of control retraumatising.
In the civil claim the plaintiff decides when to file, what to claim and when to settle. The lawyer takes instructions from the client, and the file moves at the client’s pace. Before any major step, filing, an offer, a mediation date, the client is told what it involves and what it means for them, and nothing is done without their decision. Some clients want the claim issued quickly. Others want a year of counselling first. Both are proper instructions.
New Brunswick Has No Limitation Period for a Sexual Assault Lawsuit
A limitation period is the deadline to file. Survivors, who often need years before they can disclose, were the people those deadlines hurt most.
New Brunswick has removed them. The province recognised that trauma delays disclosure, and there is now no limitation period for a civil claim based on sexual assault. A survivor can file at any time, whether the abuse was last year or forty years ago. The statute is on the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick website.
The Change Applies to Abuse From Any Date
Survivors can put counselling first and litigate when they are ready. The change applies retroactively, so people once barred by the old rules may now have a claim. Time no longer protects an abuser, and a defendant cannot have a claim struck for delay alone.
Early Instructions Preserve Evidence Without Committing to Filing
No deadline does not mean no urgency. Evidence gets harder to find. Witnesses’ memories fade and institutions lose or destroy records.
Speak to a lawyer as soon as you are able. Early instructions let the firm request historical medical records, secure employment files and locate witnesses. Hospitals and clinics destroy records after a set retention period. Schools and churches reorganise and lose personnel files. A witness who could confirm the abuser had access to you in a given year may be elderly. The requests go out under the client’s name and the firm’s, and nothing is served on the defendant. That work is done quietly, and it does not commit you to filing. It means the evidence is ready when you are.
A Sexual Assault Lawsuit Can Name the Abuser and the Institution Behind Them
The obvious defendant is the abuser. They are often not enough. Many individuals have no assets or insurance to satisfy a judgment, so the firm looks at who else is responsible, usually the organisation where the abuse happened.
The Abuser Is Sued for Battery and Assault
The claim against the individual alleges the intentional torts of battery and assault, proven before a judge of the Court of King’s Bench. Winning is one step. Collecting is another. Defendants hide assets or declare bankruptcy. The firm traces assets and seeks pre-trial injunctions so property cannot be moved while the case runs. Where the abuser has a home, a pension or a business, those are the assets the judgment is paid from, and the search for them starts before the claim is served.
Institutions Are Liable Vicariously and for Their Own Negligence
Where the abuser was an employee or volunteer of a school, church or similar body, the institution may be vicariously liable: an employer answers for harm its employees do in the course of their duties. Institutions carry large commercial liability policies, and those policies are often the only realistic source of payment. Schools, churches, sports organisations, camps, child welfare agencies and employers have all been held liable in Canadian cases.
The institution can also be sued for its own negligence: no background checks, or earlier complaints ignored. Proof of that kind of systemic failure raises the award and forces policy change. The questions asked of the institution are specific: who hired the abuser, what checks were done, who received the earlier complaint, what was done about it, and who decided the abuser could keep working with children or vulnerable adults.
Damages in a Sexual Assault Lawsuit Are Uncapped and Fall Into Four Categories
Damages are the money a court awards. In these cases they span several categories, and the amount turns on the facts. The firm uses economic experts to quantify the losses.
New Brunswick’s minor injury cap applies to some car accident claims. A sexual assault lawsuit is an intentional tort and is not subject to it. The compensation is uncapped.
General Damages Compensate Pain, Distress and Lost Enjoyment of Life
General damages compensate non-pecuniary loss: physical pain, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life. Courts set the figure against prior decisions, weighing the severity and duration of the abuse, the victim’s age and the continuing effect on daily life. The judge hears from the survivor, from treating clinicians and often from a psychologist retained for the case, and the award reflects how far the abuse has reached into work, relationships and health. Because the psychological injury is usually permanent, these awards can be substantial. The firm builds the clinical record that shows the court the depth of it.
Special Damages Cover Therapy, Lost Wages and Lost Earning Capacity
Special damages reimburse specific, provable losses. They need receipts, tax returns and employment records.
The largest item is usually future treatment: decades of trauma counselling, psychiatric medication and in-patient care. The claim secures the funds to pay for it. A treating psychologist or psychiatrist sets out the recommended treatment and its likely duration, a cost is attached, and the total is claimed as a capital sum.
Special damages also cover past lost wages and future loss of earning capacity. Actuaries project those losses over the plaintiff’s working life. The comparison is between the career the survivor was on course for and the one the trauma left them with, and the difference, year by year to retirement, is the claim.
Aggravated Damages Answer a Breach of Trust; Punitive Damages Punish
Aggravated damages are awarded where the defendant’s conduct was malicious, oppressive or high-handed. They compensate the added humiliation and distress. Exploiting a position of trust, such as a teacher over a student, is the kind of fact that supports them.
Punitive damages are rare. They do not compensate. They punish conduct the court finds reprehensible, and they are claimed where an institution knew of the abuse and concealed it.
Discovery Exchanges Documents and Sworn Evidence Before Trial
After the Statement of Claim is filed, the case enters discovery. Both sides see all the evidence before trial, which prevents surprise and drives settlement. A strong showing at discovery often produces a substantial offer. Defence counsel reports back to the insurer on how the plaintiff presented and how the documents read, and the reserve set on the file moves with that report. The firm manages the whole stage and prepares the client for each step.
Each Side Swears an Affidavit of Documents
Each side swears an Affidavit of Documents listing everything relevant it holds. The plaintiff’s side gathers clinical records, psychological assessments and employment history. It demands the defendant’s internal memos and disciplinary records. Those internal records are how institutional negligence is proved.
Defence counsel will comb the plaintiff’s medical history for pre-existing conditions to blame. The firm resists that, and produces only what is relevant so the client’s privacy is protected. A childhood diagnosis unrelated to the abuse is not relevant. A therapist’s notes about the abuse are, and the client is told before they are produced.
The Plaintiff Answers Defence Questions Under Oath
After documents, the plaintiff answers defence counsel’s questions under oath before a court reporter. The questions are detailed and cover both the abuse and the damages. It is hard. Your lawyer is beside you throughout and objects to improper or irrelevant questions, and the examination can be scheduled in shorter sessions where the client needs that.
The firm spends hours preparing clients for it. The preparation covers the sequence of questions defence counsel usually follows, the documents they will put to you, and the right to take breaks. The transcript becomes evidence at trial, and anything said at discovery that differs from the trial evidence will be put to the witness. Preparation is about accuracy, not performance.
The Defendant’s Insurance and the Survivor’s Disability Benefits Both Need to Be Secured
A large settlement is usually paid by the defendant’s liability insurer, and without insurance a judgment is hard to collect. Dealing with insurers is a central part of the case.
Insurers retain defence firms to find exclusions and deny coverage. The first letter from an institution’s insurer often says the policy does not respond because the harm was intentional. That position is answered in the pleadings, not in correspondence. The firm has decades of practice against those insurers in Atlantic Canada and frames the pleadings so the policy responds. The same insurers appear in file after file, and their coverage positions are known before the first letter arrives.
The CGL Policy Responds to Negligence, Not to the Intentional Act
Against an institution the target is its Commercial General Liability (CGL) policy, which covers bodily injury claims. CGL policies carry an “intentional act exclusion”: no coverage for deliberate harm. Because sexual assault is intentional, insurers use the exclusion to deny.
The answer is to plead the institution’s negligence, its own failure to prevent the abuse, in addition to the abuser’s intentional act. Negligence is covered, and the policy is triggered. The firm drafts the claim with that in view, pleading the negligent hiring, supervision and complaint handling alongside the assault itself.
Long-Term Disability Claims Often Run Alongside the Lawsuit
Trauma often makes work impossible. When it does, long-term disability benefits through an employer’s group plan become essential.
Insurers routinely deny mental health disability claims for “insufficient objective medical evidence.” The treating psychiatrist’s diagnosis, the treatment history and the functional limitations described by the clinician are the evidence that answers that denial. A sexual assault lawsuit and a denied disability claim frequently run together, against the same insurers. The firm runs both, and the medical evidence gathered for one supports the other.
The Firm’s Personal Injury Practice Covers Other Injury Claims
The firm also acts for people injured in motorcycle accidents and motor vehicle collisions, including their Section B accident benefits.
The head office is in Moncton, and the Moncton office page has the details. Clients elsewhere in the province, and in Nova Scotia, PEI and Newfoundland, are seen at the nearest office or by video. Every personal injury matter is on a contingency fee: no win, no fee, no upfront cost.
FAQ
Is There a Strict Time Limit to File a Sexual Assault Lawsuit in New Brunswick?
No. New Brunswick abolished the limitation period for civil claims based on sexual misconduct. You can file at any time, regardless of how long ago the abuse occurred.
Can I Sue an Institution Like a Private School or Church for What Happened?
Yes. Institutions are liable through vicarious liability and their own negligence. If the organisation failed to protect you, ignored earlier complaints or employed the abuser, it can be sued, and naming it is often necessary to secure proper compensation.
Will I Definitely Have to Testify in Open Court During My Sexual Assault Lawsuit?
Most of these cases settle through mediation or negotiation. At mediation you are in a separate room from the defendant, and you never have to face them unless you choose to. If yours goes to trial, your lawyer prepares you and can apply for courtroom accommodations to protect your safety and privacy. Those can include a publication ban on your identity, a screen or a closed courtroom while you give evidence, and a support person beside you.
How Can I Possibly Afford an Experienced Lawyer for a Complex Sexual Assault Lawsuit?
Every sexual assault lawsuit at the firm is on a contingency fee. No hourly rates, no retainer. The fee is an agreed percentage of the settlement, and only if there is one.
What Type of Specific Evidence Is Needed If the Abuse Happened Privately?
Courts understand abuse rarely has eyewitnesses. The case rests on consistent sworn testimony, psychological assessments and clinical records. Evidence from family members about changes in your behaviour also matters. So do contemporaneous records: a school report noting a change in a child, a diary, a letter, an earlier disclosure to a friend. The firm looks for all of it.