California Injury Lawyers Blog

Jaycee Dugard, the woman who was kidnapped and held hostage for 18 years, has filed a claim notifying California's Department of Correction that she is intending to file a personal injury lawsuit. Her two daughters, who are minors, and her mother, Terry Probin, have also filed their injury claim forms.

Dugard was 11 when Nancy and Phillip Garrido kidnapped her outside her South Lake Tahoe residence in 1991. They held her hostage in a backyard compound and she eventually gave birth to two children by Phillip, who is accused of raping her. The girls are now 12 and 15.

Dugard and her daughters were discovered last August after campus security at UC-Berkeley saw Phillip and thought he was acting strangely. His parole officer brought him in for questioning and he admitted to kidnapping Jaycee.

In California, plaintiffs have six months from the date that an incident occurred to file a personal injury lawsuit. Dugard's California injury claim forms note that she is seeking over $25,000.

The California Corrections Department was supposed to closely monitor Phillip, who became a registered sex offender after he was convicted of raping a 25-year-old woman. He was under parole supervision from 1988 to 1999.

The Office of th Inspector General has determined that the state of California immediately erred in the way they handled Phillip's parole. They mistakenly classified him as a low-risk offender, and an agent who visited Phillip's residence took at face value the parolee's account that the girl who was there was a niece.

The Garridos are charged with kidnapping and raping Jaycee.

In certain California personal injury cases, there may be parties that can be held liable even if their actions or inaction only indirectly contributed to causing the injuries.

Dugard, Family File Claims Against Calif Officials, NY Times, February 26, 2010

Jaycee Dugard Found After 18 Years, Kidnap Suspect Allegedly Fathered Her Kids, ABCNews, August 27, 2009

Jaycee Dugard, Family File Claims Against California, Fox News, February 26, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Jaycee Dugard Abduction Timeline

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

Continue reading "Jaycee Dugard, Her Two Daughters, and Mother File California Injury Claim Against the State's Department of Corrections" »

In the latest Orange County, California clergy sex abuse case against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange, a 29-year-old man claims that a priest molested him while he served as a St. Norbert Church altar boy in the 90's.

The name of the plaintiff has not been revealed--he is called John DC Doe in his Orange County, California civil complaint--but his personal injury attorney says that his client's alleged abuser is Monsignor Sinon Falvey.

Falvey was at St. Norbert's from 1976 to 1989. The plaintiff's California clergy abuse lawyer says that the priest was retired, but living at the parish, when the alleged molestation incidents occurred. Falvey died in 2005.

The plaintiff's Santa Ana personal injury lawsuit accuses Falvey of making friends with the victim and gaining his trust so that he could molest the boy. Joelle Casteix, of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, alleges that it now appears that Falvey not only covered up sex abuse incidents involving other priests, but he also abused his own victims. Casteix says other people have come forward claiming that Falvey molested them.

Already, this is the fourth clergy sex abuse lawsuit filed against the Orange County, California diocese in 2009. A former student sued the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange in June. He claims that two Huntington Beach priests molested him in the 1990's. In April, a former priest says that a La Habra priest drugged and molested him when he was a teenager.

Last February, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange settled the Orange County, California sex abuse lawsuit filed by a man who claims that he was molested by a priest in Costa Mesa. Also, the diocese has shelled out $1.5 million over multiple personal injury claims accusing Father John Lenihan of clergy sex abuse.

Clergy Sex Abuse
According to the National Catholic Reporter, US religious orders and dioceses spent over $436 million last year to settle and pay other costs related to clergy sex abuse allegations. This figure is 29% lower than the more than $615 million that was paid out in 2007.

The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University says that last year, US eparchies and dioceses were hit with 625 clergy child sex abuse claims. Most of the complaints referred to alleged molestation incidents that occurred in the 1960's and 1970's.

Lawsuit claims priest molested altar boy in 1990s, OC Register, June 30, 2009

Costs for clergy sex abuse at $2.6 billion, NCROnline.org, March 14, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange

In Orange County Superior Court, a 25-year-old man identifying himself as "John Doe" has filed a California child sex abuse lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange, the Franciscan Friars of California, and two priests. The plaintiff used to be a Catholic school student at a Huntington Beach parish. He claims that Reverend Gus Krumm and Reverend Alexander Manville, who is now retired, molested him during the 90's. He is accusing the diocese of failing to prevent the abuse from happening.

The plaintiff says he was 8 when both priests began molesting him. He claims that during one incident, both men abused him at the same time. He didn't tell his parents or the school about the incidents. His Orange County, California sex abuse lawsuit, however, contends that the diocese could have removed one of the priests from the school--after a sex abuse settlement was paid to another accuser--but failed to do so. Krumm, who later would admit to sexual misconduct with children, now has been removed from the ministry.

This is not the first sex abuse lawsuit that has been brought against the diocese. In 2005, the diocese paid $100 million in settlements to 90 people complaining that they had been sexually abused. Other lawsuits have been filed since then.

In February, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange settled the sex abuse lawsuit filed by a plaintiff claiming that a priest molested him during the 1990's. Fountain Valley resident Jonathan Kirrer, now 24, says that Reverend Denis Lyons abused him when he was studying at a Costa Mesa catholic school. The diocese has paid over $4 million to settle sex abuse claims against Lyons. He has finally been removed from the ministry.

Child Sex Abuse
The effects of sex abuse on a child can last into adulthood. Molestation can lead to depression, sleep disorders, behavioral problems, sexual issues, eating disorders, alcoholism, drug addiction, relationship problems, or suicidal tendencies. Molesting or abusing a child or an adult leads to serious emotional injuries and psychological damage for the victim. There may be a way to hold the abuser liable for California personal injury in civil court, even if the abuse happened a long time ago.

Ex-student sues, says he was molested by 2 priests at same time, OC Register, June 11, 2009

Diocese settles with man who claimed sexual abuse, OC Register, February 27, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Child Sexual Abuse, American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry

Abuse in the Catholic Church, The Boston Globe

Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange