Articles Posted in Sex Abuse

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Doctors and medical professionals sometimes sexually abuse patients during medical exams or treatment. Any type of inappropriate sexual touching by a doctor that is done for sexual gratification and without a valid medical reason is sexual abuse or assault.

Victims of doctor sexual abuse can file civil lawsuits against the doctor who abused them. In many cases, they can also bring claims against the medical practice, hospital, university, clinic, health system, or correctional facility that gave the doctor access to patients and failed to protect them.

Talk to Our Doctor Sex Abuse Lawyers

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Victims of sexual abuse or sexual assault have the right to file civil lawsuits and seek financial compensation. Recent changes in California law are now making it easier for many abuse survivors to seek justice in the civil courts.

This page will discuss how sex abuse victims can file civil lawsuits in California, who may be legally responsible, the statute of limitations, and the potential settlement compensation in these cases.

Compensation Claim Table of Contents
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Our attorneys are reviewing sexual abuse claims involving the Erickson Center for Adolescent Advancement in Van Nuys, California. Erickson Center was a residential youth treatment facility on Woodman Avenue that served teenagers placed there for mental health support, substance abuse treatment, behavioral issues, transitional care, or juvenile justice-related supervision.

If you were sent to Erickson Center as a child or teenager, you were not there because you had power. You were there because adults, agencies, courts, parents, counselors, or institutions had control over where you lived, what you could do, who you could call, and who you were expected to trust. That setting can help children when the right safeguards exist. Without those safeguards, it can become the perfect storm for predators.

The claims our lawyers are reviewing focus on sexual abuse, sexual assault, grooming, exploitation, physical abuse, emotional abuse, intimidation, and institutional silence. The legal question is not only what one abuser did. The larger question is whether Erickson Center, its operators, supervisors, parent entities, contractors, or oversight agencies failed to protect vulnerable minors placed in their care.

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Sexual abuse inside a women’s prison is not a relationship, a misunderstanding, or a gray area. It is an abuse of custody and control by someone who has power over where a woman lives, works, receives medical care, and whether she is punished for speaking up.

California women’s prison sexual abuse lawsuits now include claims tied to Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla,  California Institution for Women in Chino, and the Folsom Women’s Facility. Some cases involve named officers who were criminally charged or convicted. Others involve medical abuse, kitchen or work assignment abuse, retaliation after reporting, ignored grievances, failed PREA investigations, abusive doctors, and institutional decisions that allegedly let dangerous staff stay around women in custody.

This page is written for survivors and families who are trying to understand whether they have a civil case. The answer depends on the facility, dates, perpetrator, proof, injuries, reporting history, and deadline rules. You do not need a criminal conviction to bring a civil sexual abuse lawsuit. You do need a careful timeline, the right defendant theory, and a lawyer who understands prison abuse cases against the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR).

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The California Institution for Women, commonly called CIW, is one of California’s primary women’s prisons and one of the state’s prison facilities now facing serious sexual abuse allegations.
This page is about civil lawsuits for women who were sexually abused, sexually assaulted, coerced, harassed, or subjected to abusive medical treatment while incarcerated at CIW. The allegations involve correctional officers, prison staff, medical staff, and Dr. Scott Lee, the former CIW gynecologist accused in federal litigation of abusing incarcerated women under the pretense of medical care.
If you were abused at CIW, the first thing to understand is this: being incarcerated did not take away your right to bodily safety. A prison sentence is not permission for a guard, doctor, cook, nurse, counselor, supervisor, or anyone else with authority to use your body.
California law and California jurors now recognize the obvious power imbalance inside detention facilities. In a prison setting, sexual contact by staff is not treated like ordinary adult contact because the staff member holds the keys, controls movement, controls write-ups, controls access to medical care, and can make daily life unbearable.
Women are now filing CIW sexual abuse lawsuits because they allege CDCR and CIW officials failed to stop abuse, failed to respond to complaints, failed to supervise staff, and allowed known risks to continue. These cases are not just about one employee. The strongest lawsuits focus on the institution’s knowledge, warnings, ignored complaints, retaliation, and failure to protect women in custody.
Our firm is currently reviewing CIW sex abuse cases involving correctional officers, prison employees, Dr. Scott Lee, medical staff, and other personnel. You can call 888-322-3010 or contact us online.

June 2026 CIW Litigation Update

The CIW litigation is still developing, and our lawyers continue to get calls from women who have been sexually abused at CIW. There are high hopes for very good settlements in these lawsuits.

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If you were sexually abused in Michigan, whether it happened recently or years ago, this page explains your legal options. A civil lawsuit can seek compensation from the abuser, but in many cases, the stronger claim is against the institution that gave the abuser access and failed to protect you.

Michigan sex abuse lawsuits may involve schools, churches, hospitals, doctors, nurses, juvenile detention centers, residential treatment facilities, foster care placements, youth programs, employers, coaches, counselors, transportation companies, or public institutions. These cases are not all the same. But the core question is often similar: who had the power to stop the abuse, what warning signs existed, and why did no one act in time?

Michigan law gives some survivors more time than ordinary injury victims. But the state still has one of the more restrictive civil deadline systems compared to states that have opened broad revival windows for older childhood sexual abuse claims. That may change. The Justice for Survivors bills have moved farther than past reform efforts. But until the Legislature acts, survivors must still work within current Michigan law.

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Camp Barrett Juvenile Detention Facility lawsuits involve allegations that boys detained at the former San Diego County youth facility in Alpine, California, were sexually abused, physically abused, threatened, ignored, or left unprotected by the adults responsible for their safety.

Camp Barrett was a juvenile detention facility operated by the San Diego County Probation Department. It was meant to serve as a rehabilitation program for boys placed in custody by the juvenile court system, many of whom were minors with no history of violence. But for some of the youth sent there, Camp Barrett became a site of profound trauma from physical and sexual abuse.

Survivors have come forward with allegations that staff members sexually abused boys in their custody, taking advantage of the facility’s isolation and lack of oversight. The reports describe a system that did not simply overlook warning signs but created the conditions that allowed abuse to occur. Officers had access to children in private spaces, complaints were ignored or never documented, and leadership failed to act despite indications of misconduct.

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East Mesa Juvenile Detention Facility lawsuits involve allegations that children detained in San Diego County’s juvenile justice system were sexually abused, assaulted, threatened, ignored, or left unprotected by the adults responsible for their safety.

East Mesa Juvenile Detention Facility (or EMJDF) is a secure juvenile detention facility in the Otay Mesa area of San Diego. It is operated by the San Diego County Probation Department. San Diego County describes East Mesa as the primary booking facility for juvenile detentions, with a rated capacity of 290 beds across multiple housing units.

When a child is placed in custody, the government assumes responsibility for that child’s safety. By any definition, these are vulnerable children who deserve every chance to get their lives on track. So the facility must use reasonable care to protect children from foreseeable harm, including sexual abuse by staff members, probation officers, contractors, counselors, medical personnel, volunteers, or other adults with access to minors.

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If you were sexually abused in a California juvenile detention center, you are not alone… and it is not too late to come forward.

Thousands of survivors have already filed lawsuits against the state and its juvenile facilities, exposing a history of widespread abuse, cover-ups, and institutional failure. A $4 billion settlement in Los Angeles County confirmed what so many victims have known for years: this was not isolated misconduct. It was a system that failed to protect the very youth it was supposed to rehabilitate.

Even after that settlement, new claims continue to be filed. Not just in Los Angeles, but in San Diego, San Bernardino, Riverside, Alameda, and other counties across California. More survivors are stepping forward every day.

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Growing scrutiny surrounds Dr. Mark E. Mulholland, an obstetrician-gynecologist who practiced in Washington’s Tri-Cities region for more than 20 years, as a wave of women continue to come forward with disturbing accounts of sexual abuse and harassment that allegedly occurred under the guise of routine medical care.

Mulholland served patients at Kadlec Regional Medical Center and affiliated Providence clinics, where former patients say he routinely crossed professional boundaries, made sexual remarks, and performed painful and invasive procedures without consent. Despite receiving numerous complaints dating back to at least 2003, the hospitals reportedly failed to intervene, allowing his conduct to continue unchecked for decades.

If you have a potential claim, contact us today at 888-322-3010 or get a free online case review.

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