Lisa Lanier, an attorney for personal injury in North Carolina, met a woman who was in her 30s and claimed that her psychiatrist had sexually abused her beginning with a hospital inpatient admission.
“I was furious as I reviewed the mountains of evidence that showed this psychiatrist had taken advantage a patient during her most vulnerable moment. I knew I would have to take this case, because the perpetrator needed to be stopped,” stated Lanier. He is owner and founder at Lanier Law Group.
The firm has nine attorneys, nine offices in the state of South Carolina and one office in Greensboro. Charlotte, Greensboro, and Raleigh are the anchor offices, while smaller locations can be found in Asheville. Durham, Fayetteville, and Wilmington. It has a wide range of experience in personal injury and has a large practice representing sexual abuse victims, both children and adults.
It’s an epidemic. Lanier said, “The number of calls that I receive daily would amaze you.”
The firm deals with 80-100 sexual abuse cases per year. This does not include cluster cases or the more than 250 cases that are filed within the SAFE Child Act’s two-year window of lookback.
Massage therapists have victimized adult clients, as well as doctors, supervisors in the workplace, lawyers, teachers and coaches, landlords and apartment staff, police, prison guards and even therapists and psychiatrists.
Bobby Jenkins, a Lanier attorney who has litigated many cases, said that pedophiles tend to go where children are. This includes youth-serving groups such as schools and sports teams. “Pedophiles don’t retire. “It’s not just something they do once.”
It took some of the firm’s client years before they were ready to talk about what happened and file a civil lawsuit against their alleged abuser.
It depends on whether the victim was abused at an early age, when they reported it or filed a civil case, and if the perpetrator had been charged and sentenced.
SAFE Child Act Challenged
The SAFE Child Act, passed by the North Carolina General Assembly in 2019, gave survivors of child sexual assault the opportunity to bring civil claims against the alleged perpetrators.
Lanier explained that the law created a lookback period of two years that allowed victims of child sexual abuse to file lawsuits regardless of previous statutes of limitations which would have barred these cases. The constitutionality of this lookback period, which ended in December 2020, has been questioned, and could undermine the entire purpose behind the law.
Gaston County Board of Education is challenging the lookback period, claiming that it will lead to “endless” liabilities. Lanier’s law firm argued in June against the challenge to the N.C. Court of Appeals “to save lookback for all victims of child sex assault who are relying upon it for justice.” Several hundreds of victims await the result.
Trauma-Informed
Lanier said, “We are now trauma-informed attorneys.” “You can’t treat someone who has experienced this trauma the same way you would treat a victim of a car accident or a worker’s compensation claimant. The mental health of survivors of child sexual abuse is often fragile. We’ve spent countless hours in seminars, not taught by lawyers but psychologists, learning to be trauma-informed.
She continued, “We speak to victims very delicately.” In our first conversation, we don’t ask you questions like “Where were your hands touched?” They need lots of encouragement. They need to hear a lot more “I’m sorry that happened to you.” We are going to go very slowly and easily.
Lanier continues, “I don’t meet with a child until I’ve had several sessions with him. I also make sure that there is a therapist working with the kid and that he has given me permission to speak to the kid.”
In civil cases, a victim can receive compensation for their medical bills as well as the pain and suffering they have experienced due to the abuse. Lanier added that a civil sexual abuse claim could give the victim a sense of justice, and prevent future acts.
Victims over 50
People in their 50s call the firm to talk about being abused as children by adults in authority. It is true that many victims wait until they are in their 40s and 50s to speak out about what happened.
Unfortunately, victims can’t sue the perpetrator until they are arrested and convicted within two years after the victim files their lawsuit.
Jenkins said that “Regular statutes do not consider the mental and emotional trauma victims may experience and the time it takes them to gain the courage and strength to speak out about what happened when they were younger.” “We’ve spoken to people during this process and we’re the first ones they have ever told about what happened. They did not tell a parent or spouse. We were the first to hear about their abuse, as they wanted to file a claim. Some survivors had to return to therapy after they filed a claim.
Spreads Words Rapidly
The firm’s filing of a case for child sexual abuse against an institution spreads quickly, and other children or their parents may decide to file their cases.
“Most often, children know of other children who’ve been abused. The children may tell their parents. Jenkins said that the parents could be contacted to ask if they are willing witnesses. This kind of behavior is so abhorrent to everyone that those who have knowledge of the circumstances of the abuse are willing to speak up. If it is happening in an institution, or a child-serving organisation, most people are aware of it.
Because each case is unique, the cases are treated individually and not as a mass tort or class action. The firm represents a number of claimants that were all victimized by a single perpetrator in the same institution.
Justice Achieved
“We are forced to turn away a lot people because they have been abused by the boyfriend, stepdad or grandfather of mama. Grandpas, stepdads and boyfriends might not have any money or a job. Lanier asked, “We can get a victim a large judgment but what is that worth?” It is not fair to ask survivors of sexual abuse to go through the emotional turmoil of a lawsuit if they are not capable of recovering.
The firm will only take on cases in which the victim is alleged to have been abused by an institution with insurance or that can satisfy a court judgment. We force child-serving organizations to be better guardians by holding them accountable.
“We have found that when we do an excellent job of the investigation, we can settle these cases. We can settle cases if we have multiple victims, and a non-legislative limitations institution. Lanier said that these institutions do not want to know about the things they have allowed to happen.
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