Sexual Assault Civil Claims

The advantages of bringing a claim against your attacker, or their employer rather than to the CICA are:

• You have three years to bring it as opposed to the two year limit for the CICA (if the incident occurred more than three years ago it is possible to seek the court’s discretion to extend this period; we can advise you on this if appropriate)
• Awards made in the courts are higher than those made by the CICA
• There is no upper limit as there is in the CICA
• You can claim lost income from day one whereas the CICA will only pay lost income after the first 28 weeks
• Solicitors’ costs are paid in addition to your damages unlike claims to the CICA.

If you do choose to proceed with a civil claim against your attacker you will need to show on the balance of probabilities that the incident occurred. This is a lower burden of proof than is required for a criminal conviction, so you may still be successful even if the criminal prosecution failed.

When can I bring a civil claim against my attacker?

You can bring a claim directly against your attacker in one of two circumstances.

• Your attacker is independently wealthy and will have sufficient assets or money to be able to satisfy any claim made against them. They may have cash in the bank, a pension pot, property, or a successful business. As long as it can be shown they have assets and you have a sufficiently good claim to justify it, we can ask the courts to freeze any assets they may have to prevent their disposal while your claim is being dealt with.

• If your attacker was acting in the course of their employment you can bring a claim against their employers. This could be:
  • a colleague who assaulted you at work
  • a doctor who assaulted you during the course of your examination
  • a teacher, religious minister or sports coach/scoutmaster who abused their position of trust.
  • a police officer in the course of their public duty
  • while resident in a care facility

There has to be a link between their job and the assault. It is not a case of simply suing the employer just because your attacker has a job.

What can I claim for when I make a sexual assault civil claim?

Like any civil claim, you will be able to claim for all and any injury you sustained as a result of the assault; this includes psychological damage such as stress, depression, and PTSD.  We will obtain a full report setting out the impact the incident has had on you as well as any treatment required and prognosis for your recovery.

We will also look to recover your financial losses such as lost income, both past and future as well as any treatment costs, gratuitous care, and all other losses arising from the incident.

For an overview of the levels of compensation that you may expect to recover please click here.

Start Your Claim Today

To see how we can help you claim the compensation you deserve, get in touch with us today. All calls and emails are in complete confidence and there is no obligation; you don’t even have to give your name.

We offer sympathetic but practical advice:

• call our team on 0113 224 7804. We will listen in complete confidence and give you the best advice regarding the strength of your claim and how much you may be entitled to. We will answer all your questions so that you can decide if you want to proceed with your and the best way to go about it, If you do; we are here for you and can help.
• email your contact details with as much information as you want to give us, and we will call or email you; just let us know what works best for you. Email us at [email protected]

Your claim can be dealt with on a No Win-No Fee basis so you don’t have to worry about the cost of bringing your claim.

Here to Help When You Need It Most.