Baltimore Sexual Abuse Attorneys

Maryland Child Victims Act of 2023

Maryland Governor Wes Moore recently signed the Maryland Child Victims Act of 2023 into law. This legislation removes the statute of limitations on sexual abuse lawsuits filed in civil court and for sexual abuses against children. In other words, even if you were sexually abused decades ago as a child, you now have the legal right to file a civil claim against the perpetrator and any organization that harbored them.

Brown & Barron is equipped with the resources and experience to handle sensitive child sex abuse lawsuits, including those that involve incidents from many years ago. We can also represent survivors of adult sexual abuse, such as cases involving nursing home sexual abuse. Trust us to do what is right for you.

We Can File Against Powerful Organizations

The criminal justice system is used to hold sexual offenders liable for their criminal actions. On the other hand, the civil justice system is used more often to hold organizations or companies liable for harboring, enabling, or protecting sexual offenders within their ranks. At Brown & Barron in Baltimore, we have built our reputation for bringing successful lawsuits against powerful organizations. No matter what group was behind the sexual attacks against you or a loved one, we will be ready to challenge them in your name, and for anyone else who hasn’t been able to speak up yet.

Organizations that have been implicated in child sexual abuse lawsuits in Maryland include:

• Baltimore Archdiocese
• Boy Scouts of America
• YMCA
• School districts
• Medical institutions
• And more

Are Criminal Charges Required to File?

Importantly, no criminal charges, arrests, or investigations for you to file a sexual abuse lawsuit in civil court. In many cases, the perpetrators of sexual abuse never face criminal justice for one reason or another, such as not enough evidence to justify prosecution. However, the evidential burden is lower in a civil claim than it is in a criminal case. For this reason, even if a criminal court found a sexual offender not guilty of a crime, a civil court could still find them and/or the institution that harbored them liable for the harm caused to the victim.

What are Compensatory Damages?

In sexual abuse lawsuits filed in Maryland, compensatory damages are sought the most often. Compensatory damages are designed to “make the plaintiff whole for the harm proven to have been done” by the defendant.

Two primary types of compensatory damages are:

• Economic damages like the costs of necessary medical care, including psychiatric treatment.
• Non-economic damages like pain, suffering, and trauma.

Under the Maryland Child Victims Act of 2023, caps for certain types of damages have been put in place, depending on the defendant. For example, the non-economic damages to be paid by a defendant that is a private entity are capped at $1.5 million. The same cap is lowered to $890,000 when the defendant is a public entity like a school district or government agency. However, there is no such cap for healthcare costs associated with therapy needed by the sexual abuse survivor.

Call to Schedule a Confidential Consultation

If you want to know your rights and options as a sexual abuse survivor in Maryland, please call (410) 698-1717 as soon as you are comfortable. Our Baltimore sexual abuse attorneys are always standing by to offer genuinely compassionate legal counsel that prioritizes you, your feelings, and your objectives in the lawsuit. We keep all information from consultations with our attorneys confidential, so you can feel safe when you speak to our firm about what happened. 

Let’s pursue justice together. Contact our lawyers today.