Limitations for Bringing Old Court Accusations

Tuesday, June 9th, 2009

Two states created legislation windows opening up new time periods for childhood sexual abuse victims to seek civil court redress. California allowed these victims to file a case against their employer or abuser within one year regardless when the abuse occurred. Then, Delaware followed in 2007, this time giving people two years of leeway in bringing their accusations to civil court.

Moreover, New York state legislators are debating for a one-year statute this year. Other states are also mulling over similar measures.

These statutes of limitations for civil or criminal actions help avoid circumstances where testimonies rely on faded memories, documents have disappeared, or the evidence is incomplete. However, when high-profile abuse scandals (allegedly perpetrated by Catholic priests) occurred decades ago, a few states saw a particular need for “window laws” that could open the courts again temporarily and allow remedies of past grievances through civil actions only (not criminal prosecutions).

Supporters of these laws say that people who didn’t know or disclose that they’ve been harmed will benefit the most. But others say that such laws may inevitably raise questions of fairness and constitutionality.

Some defense attorneys say that the only reason these cases are brought up is to wrench money from the church, since many of the named perpetrators are already retired or dead, and it’s almost impossible to defend these cases.

Tags: California, child abuse, Criminal, defense attorneys, Delaware, legislation, statutes of limitations
Posted in Criminal, Criminal News, Sexual Harassment | No Comments »

Sexual Harassment is a Crime

Wednesday, May 6th, 2009

Some sexually harassing behaviors are violations of criminal law. These can be made up of criminal stalking, attempted assault or assault, and criminal sexual conduct.

It would be good if the victim clearly articulates displeasure over another’s behavior. However, they don’t need to do that. Harassed individuals only need to report the harassment to their employer or police, trigger an investigation, and file a case if they want to press charges against their offender.

Also, take note that even distributing sexually explicit materials including jokes via e-mail or internet websites may constitute sexual harassment. But even if it doesn’t, these are so disruptive and unprofessional. They should warrant discipline from the employer.

In sexual harassment litigation issues, jurors often have strong views about these issues and they have certain expectations from the employers such as:

*Procedures must be in place and it should be in writing
*Such procedures must be followed
*Upon the victim’s complaint, adequate investigation should have been done
*There should be no retaliation to the victim
*The company should exercise fair and consistent treatment to all its employees.

Furthermore, the trial lawyer’s ability to prove or disprove harassment may be dependent on the following factors:

*Credibility of company witnesses
*Credibility of Plaintiff
*Timelines of complaint
*Ulterior motives
*Common sense
*Consistency
*Adequacy of company response
*External validation of behavior (such as when the plaintiff told others about the incident).

Tags: crime, Criminal, criminal law, sexual harassment, trial lawyer
Posted in Criminal, Sexual Harassment | No Comments »