Sexual assault is unwanted touching of a sexual nature or in a sexual situation that is done intentionally or alternatively recklessly and without your consent. So in terms of your legal options for sexual assault, a lot of people assume that the only avenue of recourse is criminal, and while it’s true that a criminal complaint will be the only one that results in the prosecution and potential conviction of an accused person, there’s also other avenues of recourse that you can pursue that we deal with here, first and foremost being a civil lawsuit, and the second being a class action lawsuit that deal with groups of people that have been subjected to sexual assault, usually by the same perpetrator and usually in the context of an institution or employment. So civil sexual assault differs from criminal in that the Crown or Crown prosecutor doesn’t need to take on the case and investigate and lay charges on behalf of the public.
Civil sexual assault is private litigation where you as the plaintiff will bring the lawsuit against the perpetrator of the sexual assault or the defendant in some cases, or the respondent to the action, and it is dealt with in the realm of damages or compensation. So the outcome isn’t necessarily looking for a criminal conviction or a guilty finding of that party, but rather, what is the harm that you’ve incurred, and is that harm compensable, and how much is it compensable by? It’s really important to note that for sexual assault complaints, there’s no limitation defense, so even if a sexual assault occurred many years ago, you’re not subject to typical limitation periods. You can bring that action years later. It’s also important to note that you can pursue a civil lawsuit in sexual assault at the same time that there’s a criminal investigation into your perpetrator. It’s not dependent on one or the other. Even if criminally the perpetrator is found to not be guilty, you can still pursue a civil lawsuit. In many of our civil lawsuits, both individually and on a class basis, we sue third-party entities that would be kind of an overarching institution such as an employer. There are responsibilities and duties on third parties, especially in the employment context. If there’s a direct supervisor above you that is pressuring you, for example, into committing sexual acts, an employer can in theory be held liable for the sexual assault of their employees.
So if you have been subjected to a sexual assault at work or in the workplace by a supervisor or another employee, please give us a call. That’s something that we can deal with confidentially, privately. We can offer a consultation to you and let you know any recourse that’s available there.
