Spokane Sex Abuse Attorneys

Spokane Sex Abuse Attorneys

The subject of sex abuse of a minor is horrible on an incomprehensible level. And if it were possible for it to get more awful, those guilty of this crime are often the adults responsible for keeping safe the children they victimize.

If you are reading this, your child may have been the victim of sex abuse by a coach, scout leader, or other person of authority who is supposed to be trusted. Your child is undoubtably traumatized physically and/or mentally. You may be struggling with guilt for not knowing or protecting them. You are probably searching for the right person to help you with a sex abuse claim.

We are here to offer free legal advice. Call our Spokane sex abuse attorneys today.

Please don’t wait to contact us out of concern you’ll need to pay up-front to get answers. Just call and schedule your free legal consultation as soon as you’re able.

Please read through the information below for an overview of this type of claim. You are most likely dealing with a maelstrom of emotions as you seek guidance, and you probably have a lot of questions. We are here to help.

How can retaining a lawyer help me?

A skilled sex abuse attorney can help to identify all at-fault parties through a thorough investigation. A sex abuse claim is likely to include third parties, such as the school the coach worked for, who should have known, or worse, knew and did nothing about an employee that had access to children and the propensity to molest.

Other third parties may include school districts, daycare centers, churches, social groups, and/or any other organization responsible for the screening of potential molesters.

Having a sex abuse attorney will help prevent the insurance company from victimizing you all over again by denying or devaluing your claim. An experienced attorney will recognize these insurance company’s tactics to try and save money and fight to protect your claim’s value. You’ve got enough to deal with right now; let our Spokane sex abuse lawyers handle the communications with the insurance company for you.

Your sex abuse attorney will have the professional objectivity to help you assess settlement offers, so you’ll be confident in turning away lowball offers and know which offers are worth considering.

When filing a sex abuse claim on behalf of your child, retaining our Spokane sex abuse attorneys will take the burden of the claim off your shoulders, allowing you to focus on helping your child through this difficult time.

What kind of damages are involved in a sex abuse claim?

Sex abuse claimants can seek both economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages compensate for the financial damage inflicted on the family of a minor, such as lost wages due to missed work days, the cost of therapy, the expense of traveling to specialists who may be far away, even travel to and from local doctor’s appointments.

Non-economic damages can take many forms, such as pain and suffering, emotional anguish, PTSD, anxiety, depression, and loss of enjoyment of life, such as the inability to participate in sports, family activities, or hobbies the victim previously engaged in. There are many non-economic ways a person can be negatively impacted by sex abuse. Having a qualified sex abuse attorney fighting for full and fair compensation will give you and your family the best chance at receiving the compensation you deserve.

In addition to assessing present damages, your attorney will investigate the ways the victim may be negatively impacted in the future, such as anticipated future therapy and long-term complications like fatigue, loss of mental focus, and insomnia. These must be factored into damages in addition to the present impact of the abuse.

Mistakes to Avoid in Your Claim

There are several ways you can protect your claim from devaluation by the insurance company; we’ve included some of them below.

Get Medical Attention Right Away

It’s important to seek a medical exam for your child. This will begin to establish evidence to support your claim. When you support building a case to punish those who’ve harmed your child, you not only support their healing, but you help protect others who could be vulnerable to the abuser in the future.

Make the Child Psychologist Consultation a Priority

If you don’t know who to turn to when seeking a child psychologist, ask your pediatrician for a recommendation. Of all the different approaches for helping your child through their traumatic experience, this may be the most critical. Taking this step can help your child to recover and can help you and your child communicate about the abuse.

Don’t Discuss the Case in Public

It’s important to resist the urge to vent about the case in social media or other media venues. Your attorney can guide you as to what you should avoid doing to protect your case. This will probably include avoiding any contact with the abuser or institution the abuser was associated with. Especially when it comes to the highly volatile nature of sex abuse, it’s important to have an experienced attorney to help you navigate through your claim.

Seek Out an Attorney as Quickly as Possible

You may be so emotionally stunned by what has happened to your child that you find it difficult to prioritize looking for a lawyer. But this is something you need to do as soon as possible. The laws for this type of claim are ever evolving, and it’s important to make sure you meet important deadlines pertaining to your claim.

Even before you need to worry about missing the filing date for a claim, however, you’ve got to make sure all available evidence is gathered before it disappears. This includes interviewing witnesses while memories of key events are sharp. Your Spokane sex abuse attorneys will conduct a thorough investigation to ensure that as much evidence is gathered as possible, and all at-fault parties are identified.

Choose the Best Lawyer to Handle your Sex Abuse Claim

When you seek someone to handle your claim, choosing the right attorney is critical. This means retaining a personal injury trial lawyer with experience winning sex abuse claims involving minors.

Just as doctors can choose to focus on any of dozens of areas of specialization, most attorneys focus in particular practice areas. You wouldn’t go to a cardiologist for knee surgery; don’t hire a divorce attorney to handle a sex abuse claim.

In addition, it’s important that this lawyer be a trial attorney. Though most cases are resolved through settlement, if your claim must go to trial to bring compensation to your family, you’ll need an attorney who can win in the courtroom.

Spokane Sex Abuse Client Story

We are sharing the following client story to illustrate additional information about sex abuse claims. Though we’ve made changes to names and specifics to protect the privacy of our client, the value of the information remains. Please read it through and then contact us to schedule your own free legal consultation.

Late on a Wednesday afternoon in Spokane not so long ago, Ann Vetter’s cell phone rang. She hit ‘send’ on the meeting minutes she’d prepared from the morning’s board meeting and reached for the phone.

Seeing her daughter’s school on the caller I.D., a momentary flash of worry brushed the back of her neck. She hoped Brianna’s cold hadn’t gotten worse; she’d missed Tuesday’s soccer practice and they had a game on Saturday. Still, Brianna’s health came before sports, no matter how much she loved soccer.

“This is Ann.”

“Mrs. Vetter, this is Regina Warner, your daughter’s assistant soccer coach. I’m calling to check on Brianna. This is the third practice she’s missed, so I just wanted to say we’re thinking of her. At this point I’m assuming she won’t be in the game on Saturday?”

“Hello Ms. Warner,” said Ann, confused. “My daughter’s been fighting a cold, but she got on the school bus this morning. As far as I know, she’s still there. Have you asked Ella?” Ann suggested; Ella was her daughter’s best friend.

“That’s why I’m calling. I asked Ella if Brianna was coming when practice started, and she said Brianna wasn’t feeling well.”

Thank you for checking in, Ms. Warner. I’m sorry but yes, I think you should plan on Brianna being out on Saturday. Good luck at the game though.” Ann said, ending the call.

Where was Brianna?

Dread bloomed in the pit of her stomach. Something was wrong. She’d taken Brianna’s word for it that she’d been sick on Tuesday and had kept her home, but she didn’t know about Saturday. She had no idea where her daughter was if she wasn’t on the soccer field where she’d dropped her off. She’d picked her up from her friend Lily’s house Saturday afternoon. Lily lived in walking distance to the school. She’d call Lily’s mom.

 But before she could dial the number though, her phone rang in her hand. Chris. Ann surpassed the urge to roll her eyes as she answered.

“Ann, what’s going on?” Chris barked; annoyance tight in his voice. “Brianna is sitting in my office. I’m in the middle of a meeting,” he hissed, as if any meeting could be so important, he hadn’t thought to wonder why his daughter had travelled across town alone to show up unannounced. Ann certainly wanted to know.

“It’s not my weekend to have her,” Chris whined, “I’ve got plans.”

Now Ann let the eye roll loose. Chris always had plans more important than the kids. That’s why she’d divorced him.

“I’m as surprised as you, Chris. She’s supposed to be at soccer—”

“You need to square away our daughter or I will—”

It was Ann’s turn to cut him off. She’d had enough., Chris; your daughter is clearly upset, so get over yourself. I’m on my way.”

She closed the phone and left work to drive across town to Chris’s office.

Her jerk of an ex had been short with her ever since she’d remarried a retired Marine last year. Scott was as dependable as he was kind, and her ex-husband continued to feel very insecure about his presence in their lives.

In Scott’s post-retirement career as the owner of a security firm training airport security officers in the detection and handling of explosives, her husband enjoyed the freedom to make his schedule. Unlike Chris, he was always available to support her, and though they were still adjusting, the kids knew he was there for them, too. She’d felt things were moving in the right direction. What was going on with her daughter?

On the way home from Chris’s office, Brianna sat sullenly staring at the passing scenery as the first drops of rain spattered the windshield. Ann had tried to get her to open up, but so far nothing had worked. She tried one more time.

“Brie, I know this past year has been hard on you—”

“You don’t know anything!” Ann managed not to jerk the steering wheel at her daughter’s sudden wail. She guided the car to the shoulder of the road beside her daughter’s old elementary school and put the hazards on as the rain gained momentum.

Ann waited, but her daughter had gone silent again, like a shark slipping beneath the water. Ann waited her out. Brianna continued to look out across the school field at the playground not meeting her eye, Ann could see her shoulders trembling as she cried quietly. After five minutes, she gently reached out to her daughter.

“Don’t touch me! I hate you!” Brianna shouted. Ann recoiled as though struck.

What on earth? Before Ann could respond, Brianna shoved open the car door and ran into the field. Ann raced after her. Halfway across, her daughter crumpled onto the wet grass. She wrapped her arms around her waist and rocked there until Ann caught up, dropped beside her and pulled her close in the rain.

Ann and Scott Vetter sat down with Spokane sex abuse attorney Kathleen H. Paukert the next day for a free legal consultation.

How much does it cost to hire a lawyer?

Ann felt she’d aged ten years since Brianna’s tearful revelation not twenty-four hours before.

“Thank you for seeing us,” she began. “I admit I’m a complete wreck. My husband read through your website and suggested we speak to you before taking next steps.

I’m willing to do whatever I need to do help my daughter through this, but I also need to ask how much it will cost to hire your firm.

“Completely understandable,” Attorney Paukert said. “Our firm works on a contingency-fee model. That means we cover all case expenses from start to finish, and we only get paid when we bring your claim to a successful resolution.”

What’s the value of a sex abuse claim?

Ann sat back with relief. She took her husband’s hand and said, “Okay, we need to know what to do next. I did take Brianna straight to the doctor’s office for an exam last night. Our pediatrician is excellent. She gave us a referral to a child psychologist when we left.”

She took a shaky breath and continued, “I know Scott’s right in the need to pursue this, I’m just having trouble wrapping my brain around the idea of dealing with a claim right now.

I want to protect my daughter, but I’m also very, very angry. We want justice for Brianna but is it going to be worth putting her through the process of making a claim? I don’t even know where to start,” said Ann as tears welled and ran down her cheeks.

“I understand your concern, Mrs. Vetter,” said Attorney Paukert, handing Ann box of tissues. “First of all, I want to assure you that a sex abuse claim is something that will most likely be handled between insurance companies and attorneys,” said Attorney Paukert. It’s unlikely we’ll need to drag your daughter into any kind of courtroom situation.

“In addition to pursuing damages to help your daughter heal through therapy and anything else she may need going forward, consider that she is probably not the only one on the team the head coach has targeted. If you want to prevent this coach from being free to remain in his position, if you want to prevent him from abusing anyone else, it’s imperative to make a stand.

“As to the claim’s monetary value, we’ll need to gather information to make that determination reliably, and it will come from two sources. The first source is our investigation and the second is Brianna’s damages.

We can begin the investigation immediately, interviewing witnesses and gathering evidence. During this process, we’ll carefully seek to determine all at-fault parties who should have protected your daughter, for example, through better employee supervision or background screening. This is something our firm is truly adept at, and we always work up our claims as if they must go to trial to succeed. That way, we ‘re ready for any contingency.

“To get a clear idea of your daughter’s damages, we’ll need Brianna to reach maximum medical improvement. This term simply means recovering ‘back to normal,’ or as close to that as she can get. We’ll work closely with her doctors to determine when they believe she’s reached this point. They’ll also help us get a solid idea of how much future care she’ll need because of her trauma. When she reaches maximum medical improvement, we’ll understand her damages and we’ll know the value of her claim,” said Paukert.

“Brianna’s job is to rest and follow doctor’s orders, which I’m assuming will include a good deal of therapy. A huge benefit of retaining an attorney is that your job moving forward can be to focus on supporting your daughter. We can take care of everything else involved in your claim.

How long will my claim take?

Ann nodded as she absorbed what she’d been told, then looked to Scott. “That sounds realistic,” he said, “How long do you anticipate this process will take?”

“That’s also going to depend on two factors,” said Attorney Paukert. The first is how long it takes Brianna to reach maximum medical improvement, since we’ll need to know her damages to determine how much compensation to request. Once we know the value of her claim, we’ll send a demand letter to the insurance company.

“The second factor is the insurance company’s response to the demand letter. If they are reasonable and offer a fair settlement, we can wrap up her claim efficiently. If they refuse to settle, however, we’ll file your claim in suit and take them to court.

“While it’s true that a lawsuit would extend the claim’s timeline, please try not to worry about the possibility. Our attorneys are seasoned trial lawyers with a long history of success in court as well as in negotiating settlements.

“The insurance company is likely to know who we are; they may settle just to avoid court. Juries are not sympathetic to sex abusers, especially those who target children.

“In either case, I assure you we’ll be ready to fight for justice for your child,” said Paukert. “That’s why whether you decide to retain our firm or another, I urge you to make sure you choose a personal injury trial attorney with a successful record winning sex abuse claims.”

The answers Attorney Paukert gave Ann and Scott in their free consultation convinced them they had come to the right law firm. They retained Paukert & Troppmann, and Attorney Paukert got Brianna eight times more than the insurance company initially offered.

Call Our Spokane Sex Abuse Attorneys Today

We hope you’ve found this information helpful and that it’s given you some peace of mind. If you’re facing the trauma of sex abuse, please reach out to our Spokane sex abuse attorneys. You don’t have to figure this out alone. Schedule your free legal consultation today and let us fight to bring you justice.