You decide whether to make a claim, when, and how far it goes. If you are reading this to find out what your options are, that is a reasonable thing to do and it costs nothing: the first conversation is free, it is confidential, and it does not commit you to anything.
We represent survivors across Western Massachusetts from our offices in Springfield and Westfield. You can reach us at (413) 426-8657. If you would rather write than talk, the form on this page reaches the same people.
A civil case is not a criminal case
These are two separate things, and confusing them stops people from getting help.
A criminal case is brought by the Commonwealth against the person who committed the assault. You are a witness in it, not a party. You do not control whether it is charged, what it is charged as, or whether it is dismissed. The standard of proof is the highest the law uses.
A civil case is yours. You bring it, you direct it, and you can end it. It asks for money rather than a conviction, and it is decided on a lower standard of proof than a criminal charge. That difference matters in practice: a case that was never charged, or was charged and did not result in a conviction, can still be a civil claim.
You do not need to have reported to the police to talk to us, and you do not need to have decided whether you ever will.
The claim often reaches further than the person who did it
The individual is not always the only party responsible, and often not the one who can actually pay. Where the harm happened inside an institution — a school, a youth program, a workplace, a care facility, a place of worship, a landlord's building — the question becomes what that institution knew, what it did, and what it failed to do.
That is ordinary negligence law applied to facts people do not usually think of in those terms: prior complaints that went nowhere, a person kept in a role after a warning, supervision that existed on paper, a door or a hiring process that should have stopped this. Those cases are built from records, and records are what we go after.
Time limits
Deadlines for these claims are not the same as the deadlines in an ordinary injury case, and they are not the same for every survivor or every defendant. Abuse that happened years ago is not automatically out of time.
Do not decide you are too late on your own. Tell us roughly when it happened and who was involved, and we will tell you where you actually stand. That answer is free and it is often not the one people expect.
What working with us looks like
- You set the pace. No one from this office will contact anyone, file anything, or take a step you have not agreed to.
- You are not required to tell the whole story to start. Enough to know whether there is a claim is enough. Everything else can wait, or come out in pieces, or come from records instead of from you.
- Confidentiality is the point, not a formality. Ask us at the first call what is protected and what is not, including how a claim would be filed and what becomes public. You should have that answer before you decide anything.
- Nothing up front. Our fee is a percentage of the recovery, set in a written agreement before we begin. We front the case costs. If there is no recovery you owe no fee and no costs.
If you are in immediate danger
Call 911. For confidential support at any hour, independent of any legal decision, the National Sexual Assault Hotline is (800) 656-4673. Talking to an advocate does not start a legal case and does not obligate you to anything here.