Survivors' Rights

• Why Didn’t She Scream? And Other Questions Not to Ask a Rape Accuser, New York Times, May 1, 2023
  She pushed him off her. She stomped on his foot. She hit him with her handbag. She kneed him. She fought so hard that for nearly 30 years, E. Jean Carroll, the woman who has accused former President Donald Trump of raping her in the mid-1990s, has preferred calling it a “fight” instead of a “rape” — because she fought back.

• Decades of failures leave L.A. County facing up to $3 billion in sex abuse claims, Los Angeles Times, May 1, 2023
  As California legislators prepared to pass a law providing victims of childhood sexual abuse a new window to file lawsuits, the bill’s chief backer recalls most of the resistance coming from entities with famously troubled histories: school districts, colleges and youth athletic groups, along with some of their insurance companies.
• Los Angeles Jury Finds Harvey Weinstein Guilty of Rape in Mixed Verdict, The New York Times, December 19, 2023
  Harvey Weinstein, once a film colossus who wielded immense power in Hollywood, was found guilty on Monday of raping and sexually assaulting an actress in 2013
• Les Moonves and Paramount to Pay $9.75 Million in State Case Tied to Sexual Misconduct, The New York Times, November 2, 2022
  The New York attorney general’s office found that CBS, whose parent company is now Paramount, concealed allegations about its former chief executive from investors
• Female bodybuilders describe widespread sexual exploitation, The Washington Post, October 25, 2022
  Officials of bodybuilding’s two premier federations have been sexually exploiting female athletes for decades — pressuring them to pose for nude photographs, posting those photos to soft-core pornography sites, and, at times, manipulating contest results in favor of cooperative competitors
• Ex-UCLA gynecologist James Heaps guilty of sexually abusing patients, Los Angeles Times, October 20, 2022
  A Los Angeles County jury on Thursday found former UCLA gynecologist Dr. James Heaps guilty of sexually abusing female patients during his tenure at the university. The assaults date from 2013 to 2017, the portion of Heaps’ tenure that falls within the statute of limitations for which criminal charges could be brought.
• ‘I Felt Trapped’: Sexual Abuse of Teen in the Military’s J.R.O.T.C. Program The New York Times, July 9, 2022
  Former students say military veterans who led J.R.O.T.C. classes in U.S. high schools fashioned themselves as mentors, then used their power to manipulate and abuse.

• Her Tennis Coach Abused Her. Could the Sport Have Prevented It? The New York Times, May 22, 2022
  Adrienne Jensen does not know Pam Shriver, the 22-time Grand Slam doubles champion, but both believe tennis needs to change its approach toward predatory coaches.
• Southern Baptist leaders covered up sex abuse, kept secret database, report says, The Washington Post, May 22, 2022
  Among the findings was a previously unknown case of a pastor who was credibly accused of assaulting a woman a month after leaving the presidency of the Southern Baptist Convention.
• New Mexico Archdiocese to Settle Sex Abuse Claims for $121.5 Million, New York Times, May 18, 2022
  The settlement announced by the Archdiocese of Santa Fe is among the largest of its kind involving the Catholic Church in the United States.
• Hillsong, Once a Leader of Christian Cool, Loses Footing in America, New York Times, March 29, 2022
  Amid a series of crises, including charges of sexual abuse and the resignation of its leader, the evangelical powerhouse has shed more than half its American churches in just a few weeks.

• Bombshell abuse allegations continue to rock elite Thacher School, New York Post, March 29, 2022
  Blockbuster story from news site Law & Crime outlines claims that the current administration covered up an alleged May 2021 assault in which one student, a relative of school founder Sherman Day Thacher, was reportedly accused of choking another student while having sex.
• Disgraced Running Coach Was Barred for Life for Alleged Sexual Assault, New York Times, January 31, 2022
  An arbitrator’s ruling, revealed for the first time, shows that allegations of physical assault prompted a lifetime ban for Alberto Salazar, the former coach of the Nike Oregon Project.
• Ghislaine Maxwell Is Guilty. What Happens Next Is Critical, New York Times, December 29, 2021
  Like Mr. Epstein, other wealthy and powerful men who have been convicted of sexual misconduct charges in recent years also relied on others who, at best, looked the other way and, at worst, actively enabled the abuse, almost all without consequence.
• Federal lawsuit asks if University of Michigan needs outside intervention on misconduct policies, MLive, July 28, 2021
  Attorneys for plaintiffs in the sex abuse class action against the University of Michigan argue that UM wants to tackle changes in sexual misconduct policy on its own despite failings both decades-old and as recent as the last few years.
• U. Mich. Student Says Sex Assault Risk Justifies Class Suit, Law360, July 27, 2021
  A University of Michigan student has said she doesn’t need to experience sexual violence firsthand to bring a proposed class action forcing the school to reform its sex assault policies, and urged a federal judge not to dismiss the case.
• ‘How can you police yourselves?’ Victims, experts skeptical of University of Michigan’s new sexual misconduct policies, MLive, July 25, 2021
  Former Michigan athletes who suffered abuse by the late Dr. Robert Anderson along with victim advocacy experts discuss how the university’s new sexual misconduct policies may fall short.
• Judge OKs $73-million payout to victims of alleged sexual abuse by UCLA gynecologist, The Los Angeles Times, July 13, 2021
  The 2019 class-action suit involved allegations that, from 1983 to 2018, Dr. James Heaps groped women, simulated intercourse with an ultrasound probe or made inappropriate comments during examinations at the UCLA student health center, Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, or his on-campus office.
• Tools for Teens to Call Out Sexual Violence, The New York Times, April 13, 2021
  A sex ed teacher talks about how young people can try to keep themselves safe from sexual assault and be allies to others.
• Women Are Calling Out ‘Rape Culture’ in U.K. Schools, The New York Times, April 1, 2021
  Thousands of anonymous online accounts have shone a spotlight on sexual violence against young women and girls.
• Anderson UofM Sexual Abuse: Survivors, Key Officials Share Pivotal Moments in UM Sexual Abuse Controversy, The Detroit News, February 18, 2021
  There are now 850 reported victims involved in legal proceedings against the university. Stone is one of several men, from a dogged UM police detective to a determined former football player, who have driven pivotal moments to show who in the university community was aware of Anderson’s behavior as early as 1979 and insist on justice and reform. At least a half dozen current and former UM officials are accused of being aware of complaints about Anderson.
• ‘Consent,’ a Memoir That Shook France, Recalls Living a ‘Perverse Nightmare’, The New York Times,February 16, 2021
  In France, sexual relations between adults and minors under the age of 15 are illegal, but there is no set age of consent, which permits a lighter penalty than rape. Springora asks us what this consent is supposed to look like. What did her teenage self think she was consenting to? How did the experience of adult violence, control and manipulation shape her?
• Pilots say they, too, were molested by Univ. of Michigan doc, Associated Press, February 6, 2021
  A cargo pilot who regularly needed health checkups to keep his license contacted a University of Michigan doctor in 2000. He said he soon learned there was nothing routine about a visit with Robert Anderson.
• Former Boy Scouts Chaplain Is Sentenced to 40 Years in Prison for Sexual Abuse, The New York Times, January 28, 2021
  James Glawson, 76, sexually assaulted six young men, including one who is developmentally disabled, Rhode Island authorities said.
• An Uplifting Update, on the Terrible World of Pornhub, The New York Times, December 9, 2020
  Young heroes lead in confronting pornography companies that monetize rape and child abuse.
• The Harvey Weinstein Verdict is a Watershed — and a Warning, The New York Times, February 25, 2020
  In the wake of the predatory movie mogul’s catastrophic fall, there are people willing to listen to women now, and sometimes what we say has consequences.
• U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Alex Kozinski Made Us All Victims and Accomplices, Slate, February 14, 2020
  For 20 years, Dahlia Lithwick felt it was too early to speak up about Judge Alex Kozinski. Now she fear it’s too late.
• Elizabeth Smart says she was sexually assaulted on a plane, KSL Newsradio, February 6, 2020
  Elizabeth Smart has revealed she was sexually assaulted on an airline flight last year. She’s talking about it publicly for the first time, telling CBS This Morning she was asleep on the plane on the way back to Salt Lake City when she was jerked awake when she felt a man touching her.
• L.A. Archdiocese settles priest abuse case for $1.9 million, Los Angeles Times, January 30, 2020
  On Tuesday, attorneys representing Doe, now 47, announced a $1.9-million settlement with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Lovell and the Claretian Missionaries, where Lovell served as a priest. The complaint, filed in September 2018, is the first case settled with a Catholic diocese in the state since the passage of AB 218, a law that expands the time frame for filing child sexual abuse allegations.
• We Assembled the Only Nationwide Database of Priests Deemed Credibly Accused of Abuse. Here’s How., ProPublica, January 28, 2020
  ProPublica published an interactive database on Tuesday that lets users search for clergy who have been listed as credibly accused of sexual abuse in reports released by Catholic dioceses and religious orders. ProPublica’s reporting spanned several months and produced an original database containing each diocesan list as it was originally published online.
• Bay Area child molester victims to get nearly $11M in settlement, San Francisco Chronicle, January 23, 2020
  Twelve former students of a man convicted of sexually abusing them when he was their teacher at a San Francisco Bay Area school will receive a combined $10.9 million to settle a lawsuit against the school, an attorney said.
• The Abusive Behavior of Ex-Mount Sinai Doctor David Newman, The Cut, December 10, 2019
  She felt Dr. Newman hastily moving the bed, then wedging himself between the bed and the wall and masturbating while he molested her. It all went very fast. “I was in and out of consciousness, and one of the first things I felt was him groping my breast,” she says. “It wasn’t really real until I realized I couldn’t move. I can’t say I know my eyes weren’t open, but I couldn’t see.”
• Women Accuse Evangelical Pastor Of Abuse Years After Being Told To Keep Silent, Huffington Post, November 9, 2019
  The accused pastor is now a top candidate to be the senior leader of a Southern Baptist church.
• Increasing emergency department admissions in U.S. for child sexual abuse, Physicians Weekly, November 4, 2019
  The rate at which children are being admitted to U.S. emergency departments for sexual abuse almost doubled between 2010 and 2016, a new study finds; rise could be related to increases in human trafficking.
• I’m the Comedian Who Just Confronted Harvey Weinstein. Here’s Why I Spoke Up, The New York Times, October 28, 2019
  Survivors of sexual assault shouldn’t have to explain their experiences — or stand in a room with Harvey Weinstein.
• Brooklyn Diocese Is Part of $27.5 Million Settlement in 4 Sex Abuse Cases, The New York Times, September 18, 2019
  Four men who were repeatedly sexually abused as children by a religion teacher at a Roman Catholic church reached a $27.5 million settlement with the Diocese of Brooklyn and a local after-school program on Tuesday, in one of the largest settlements ever awarded to individual victims of abuse within the church.
• Six Men Tell Their Stories of Sexual Assault in the Military, The New York Times, September 12, 2019
  More than 100,000 men have been sexually assaulted in the military in recent decades. Shame and stigma kept the vast majority from coming forward to report the attacks.
• He Says a Priest Abused Him. 50 Years Later, He Can Now Sue., The New York Times, August 13, 2019
  A new law has created a “look-back window,” during which claims that had passed the statute of limitations can be revived.
• Sexual misconduct allegations against California doctors rise sharply since #MeToo era began, The Los Angeles Times, August 12, 2019
  Since fall of 2017, the number of complaints against physicians for sexual misconduct has risen 62%, a jump that coincides with the beginning of the #MeToo movement, according to a Los Angeles Times analysis of California medical board data.
• Dartmouth Reaches $14 Million Settlement in Sexual Abuse Lawsuit, The New York Times, August 6, 2019
  Nine women accused Dartmouth professors of sexual misconduct; the women and the college have announced that they have reached a settlement in the case.
• What Modeling Taught Me About Jeffrey Epstein, The Cut, July 22, 2019
  During the period of my life when I was a young model, I had my fair share of bad experiences. There were various times during my modeling career when predators lured me into dangerous situations that weren’t what they appeared at first.
• She Didn’t Act Like a Rape Victim, The New York Times, July 22, 2019
  Rape victims must yell, cry and fight, says the Army that trained us for years to be silent, strong and obedient.
• Give Your Child the Tools to Recognize Sexual Abuse, The New York Times, July 22, 2019
  Talk to your kids about their bodies and empower them to speak out.
• Jeffrey Epstein Was a Sex Offender. The Powerful Welcomed Him Anyway. The New York Times, July 13, 2019
  Over a decade ago, when Mr. Epstein was very publicly accused of sexually abusing girls as young as 14, he minimized the legal consequences with high-powered lawyers, monetary settlements that silenced complaints, and a plea deal that short-circuited an F.B.I. investigation and led to the resignation announcement on Friday of a Trump cabinet official who had overseen the case as a prosecutors.
• ‘How Much Is a Little Girl Worth?’: The Painful Financial Fallout of the Larry Nassar Case, Fortune, June 27, 2019
  For the athletes and patients sexually assaulted by the former USA Gymnastics doctor, the difficult math of negotiating a settlement brings trauma of another kind.
• Sex Harassment Laws Toughened in New York: ‘Finally, This Is Happening’, New York Times, June 20, 2019
  The #MeToo movement, along with advocacy by former staffers who reported harassment, helped usher in changes in the state’s legislature.
• UCLA rocked by charges that former staff gynecologist sexually abused patients, Los Angeles Times, June 10, 2019
  UCLA came under public scrutiny Monday over its handling of a former staff gynecologist who has been charged with sexual battery and exploitation during his treatment of two patients at a university facility.
• Her Evangelical Megachurch Was Her World. Then Her Daughter Said She Was Molested by a Minister, New York Times, June 10, 2019
  Evangelical churches have long distanced themselves from the sexual abuse crisis that has consumed the Catholic Church. But a reckoning has arrived.
• Rumsey Hall Latest Elite Private School to Disclose Allegations of Sexual Misconduct, Jezebel, May 6, 2019
  Prestigious coed K-9 boarding and day school in Connecticut becomes the most recent private school to disclose wide-ranging sexual misconduct by faculty.
• New York Archdiocese releases names of 120 clergy accused of sex abuse, CNN, April 27, 2019
  The Archdiocese of New York, the second-largest diocese in the nation, has identified 120 priests and deacons accused of sexually abusing a child or having child pornography in the latest revelations in the Catholic Church’s long-running sex abuse epidemic.
• What Do the Church’s Victims Deserve?, The New Yorker, April 8, 2019
  The Catholic Church is turning to outside arbiters to reckon with its history of sexual abuse. But skeptics argue that its legacy of evasion continues.
• ‘I, Too, Was a Survivor’: Senator McSally Ends Years of Silence, New York Times, March 26, 2019
  Martha McSally became the first American woman to fly in combat. But years before, she had been attacked by one of her own.
• Several star equestrians accuse New Jersey trainer of sexual abuse when they were young riders, New York Daily News, March 25, 2019
  Several former equestrian protégés of New Jersey horse trainer Barry Lobel are accusing him of molesting them during 1970s and ‘80s, when they were between 14 and 17 years old. The alleged abuse follows a now-familiar plotline: Talented young athlete wants to be a superstar, hires famous coach, who earns their trust and then proceeds to molest them, often in plain sight.
• A Secret Database of Child Abuse, The Atlantic, March 22, 2019
  A former Jehovah’s Witness is using stolen documents to expose allegations of widespread child abuse that the religion has kept hidden for decades.
• Humane Society Announces Conclusion of Reconciliation Process Aimed at Improving its Workplace Culture, March 15, 2019
  Lieff Cabraser attorney Kelly M. Dermody Commends the Society’s Efforts, Applauds the ‘Courageous Women Who Came Forward’ to Initiate the Transformation – “A tremendous day for HSUS and for the future of the animal welfare movement.”
• Cardinal George Pell Sex Abuse Conviction Unsealed in Australia, New York Times, February 25, 2019
  Australia’s Cardinal George Pell was found guilty in December 2018 of sexually assaulting two 13-year old boys. The highest-ranking Roman Catholic leader ever convicted of sexual abuse, Pell will no longer face a second trial on an additional round of assault allegations involving young boys; now that a second jury cannot be prejudiced by information from the first trial against Pell, the records of that first trial that detail how the Cardinal forced the young teen boys into performing sex acts have been made public.
• New York’s New Democratic Majority Just Passed a Massive Law to Help Child Sex Abuse Survivors, Vice.com, January 30, 2019
  For more than a decade, survivors of sexual abuse headed to the New York capitol of Albany with one goal in mind: to convince lawmakers to change the statute of limitations for filing charges over child sex abuse. Their advocacy paid off.
• 50 Jesuits, Including Some From Top-Ranked N.Y. Catholic Schools, Are Named as Abusers, New York Times, January 15, 2019
  In another blow to the Catholic Church, the Jesuits on Tuesday released more names of priests who have faced at least one allegation of sexual abuse that they consider credible.
• Lisa Madigan: 500 more sex allegations against Illinois priests ‘have not been adequately investigated’, Chicago Daily Herald, December 23, 2018
  Attorney General Lisa Madigan Wednesday has accused the Catholic Church of dramatically underreporting allegations of clergy sex abuse in Illinois, saying investigators found at least 500 accusations against priests and clergy — compared to the 185 cases the church says it found credible.
• Police find trove of nude images of women in ex-USC gynecologist’s storage unit, The Los Angeles Times, December 11, 2018
  When investigators raided Tyndall’s rental unit, they found a trove of homemade pornography and a smaller set of photos of unclothed women in what appeared to be a medical exam room. Those images have become part of the investigation into whether Tyndall sexually abused hundreds of students over his three-decade career at USC’s student health center.
• More than 20 women accused a prominent Pasadena obstetrician of mistreating them. He denied claims and was able to continue practicing, The Los Angeles Times, December 9, 2018
  Top Huntington administrators were warned repeatedly about Sutton over the decades, according to interviews with current and former administrators and other hospital employees. “No matter what concerns I had, they would continue to do nothing,” said Dr. Shawanda Renee Obey.
  
• Grand jury investigating USC gynecologist accused of sexually abusing hundreds of patients, The Los Angeles Times, December 5, 2018
  Los Angeles County prosecutors have convened a grand jury to hear evidence about Dr. George Tyndall, the USC gynecologist accused of sexually abusing hundreds of patients during three decades at a campus health clinic
• ‘If Bobbie Talks, I’m Finished’: How Les Moonves Tried to Silence an Accuser, The New York Times, November 28, 2018
  A trove of text messages details a plan by Mr. Moonves and a faded Hollywood manager to bury a sexual assault allegation. Instead, the scheme helped sink the CBS chief, and may cost him $120 million.
• 7 Women Accuse Dartmouth Professors of Sexual Abuse in Lawsuit, The New York Times, November 15, 2018
  Seven women are suing the Ivy League’s Dartmouth College over sexual assault, harrassment and discrimination they allege occurred over a period of at least 16 years since 2002
• How Powerful Institutions Protect Dangerous Men Like Larry Nassar, Brit+Co, November 14, 2018
  Brit+Co’s canvass of abuse and harassment cases reviews how powerful institutions, hospitals, universities, continue to shield dangerous sexual predators from accountability, though recent cases provide hope for continuing change
• #MeToo Brought Down 201 Powerful Men. Nearly Half of Their Replacements are Women, The New York Times, October 23, 2018
  A New York Times analysis has found that, since the publishing of the exposé on Harvey Weinstein, at least 200 prominent men have lost their jobs after public allegations of sexual harassment. And nearly half of the men who were replaced have been succeeded by women.
• USC Reaches Tentative $215-million Settlement Over Gynecologist Accused of Sexually Assaulting Hundreds of Students, The Los Angeles Times, October 19, 2018
  USC said Friday it has reached an “agreement in principal” to pay $215 million to patients treated by Dr. George Tyndall, the longtime campus gynecologist accused of abusing and sexually harassing scores of young patients.
• An Esteemed Doctor, Child Sexual Abuse Claims and a Hospital That Knew for Years, The New York Times, October 18, 2018
  For almost 30 years, parents sought out Dr. Reginald Archibald when their children would not grow. They came to his clinic at The Rockefeller University Hospital, a prominent New York research institution, where he treated and studied children who were small for their age. He also may have sexually abused many of them.
• Latest Hotchkiss Lawsuit Alleges Abuse Of Student, 15, By Teacher ‘Uncle Roy’ Smith, The Hartford Courant, October 13, 2018
  Lieff Cabraser files a lawsuit on behalf of a second former student of the exclusive Hotchkiss School in Salisbury who alleges that former English teacher Roy G. “Uncle Roy” Smith Jr. drugged and sexually assaulted him following a period of blatant grooming, during which Smith inappropriately touched the 15-year-old student even as Smith was the subject of other complaints about sexual abuse of children.
• Brooklyn Diocese Pays $27.5 Million to Settle 4 Sex Abuse Cases, The New York Times, September 18, 2018
  Four men who were repeatedly sexually abused as children at a Roman Catholic church reached a $27.5 million settlement with the Diocese of Brooklyn in one of the largest settlements ever awarded to individual victims of abuse within the church.
• Reported Cases of Sexual Abuse Against Men Triple in England and Wales, The New York Times, August 2, 2018
  A culture of fear in the UK that has long kept survivors of sexual assault from speaking has started to break down in recent years
• The Equestrian Coach Who Minted Olympians, and Left a Trail of Child Molestation, The New York Times, May 29, 2018
  The equestrian community has been rocked by revelations of repeated and systematic abuse by industry “legend” Jimmy A. Williams
• Here’s The Powerful Letter The Stanford Victim Read To Her Attacker, BuzzFeed, June 3, 2016
  A former Stanford swimmer who sexually assaulted an unconscious woman was sentenced to six months in jail because a longer sentence would have “a severe impact on him,” according to a judge. At his sentencing Thursday, his victim read him a letter describing the “severe impact” the assault had on her.

Lieff Cabraser represents individuals nationwide in sexual abuse lawsuits against their physicians, teachers, clergy, and other abusers, including the USC sexual abuse litigation filed on behalf of nearly 18,000 women abused by University gynecologist George Tyndall, where Lieff Cabraser partner Annika K. Martin serves as co-lead class counsel whose efforts led to a historic settlement for victims of $215 million and sweeping institutional reforms at USC.