Westlake Child Sexual Abuse Lawyer

Trusted Westlake Child Sexual Abuse Attorney

Westlake Survivors Deserve a Lawyer Who Goes After the Institution, Not Just the Abuser. Coming forward about abuse that happened when you were a child is not something you do lightly. Deciding to do it here in Westlake can feel even heavier if the person who hurt you was tied to your school, church, or a program meant to protect you. You need to know if it is too late to do anything about it, and you need someone who will listen before anything else happens.

This is exactly the kind of case a Westlake child sexual abuse lawyer handles. Attorney Anthony DeMarco represented more than 350 survivors in the $660 million settlement against the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. At the time it was the largest clergy abuse settlement in California history. We know what it takes to hold a school, a church, or a youth program accountable instead of just the person who abused you.

Contact us and tell us what happened. We will tell you whether California law still lets you file, and what going after the institution that let this happen could look like for you.

The Sexual Abuse Cases We Take On for Westlake Families

We represent survivors whose abuse involved an institution that had the power to stop it and did not. Our Westlake Village child sexual abuse lawyer handles cases involving:

• Abuse by clergy, ministers, or other church staff
• Abuse inside K-12 schools, including teachers, coaches, and administrators
• Abuse inside youth sports leagues, scouting programs, and after-school programs
• Abuse by law enforcement personnel or other government employees
• Abuse in daycare, camp, or residential treatment settings

If the person who abused you worked for, volunteered for, or was supervised by an organization, we look at whether that organization knew, or should have known, and how they failed to act.

For survivors whose abuse involved a teacher or other school employee, our guide to sexual abuse by educators and common misconceptions about perpetrators provides additional context.

What California’s Filing Deadline Means for a Westlake Case?

Survivors often need decades before they can even say what happened to them out loud.

Under California Code of Civil Procedure Section 340.1, if the abuse happened before Jan. 1, 2024, you generally have until your 40th birthday to sue the person who abused you. If you’re older than that, you may still have up to five years after connecting an adult psychological injury to the abuse, whichever comes later.

Learn more about the applicable rules in our guide to the California statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse.

If you’re suing a school, church, or other organization instead of the abuser, that same age-40 deadline applies unless you can show the organization knew about the danger, or should have known, and didn’t take reasonable steps to stop it.

Our resource on filing a sexual abuse lawsuit against a California school district explains some of the issues that can arise when pursuing institutional accountability.

If you’re 40 or older when you file, California law also requires your lawyer and a mental health professional to each sign a form saying your case has merit before your suit can move forward.

If the abuse happened on or after January 1, 2024, California currently places no deadline on when you can file.

None of that means you should wait. Evidence disappears, personnel files get destroyed on a schedule, and witnesses move away or stop returning calls. The earlier we can start gathering what the school, church, or agency knew, the stronger your case may be.

The Track Record Behind Our Child Sexual Abuse Cases

We do not ask survivors to take our word for what we can do. Anthony DeMarco has been licensed with the State Bar of California since 1997. He has focused exclusively on childhood sexual abuse cases since 2002, working almost entirely against large institutions rather than individual defendants. Here is some of what that work has produced.

Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every case depends on its own facts.

How We Build Cases Against the Institutions Protecting Your Abuser?

Westlake Village sits inside Los Angeles County, and most families here fall under the Las Virgenes Unified School District and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Malibu/Lost Hills station, which also covers Agoura Hills, Calabasas, and Hidden Hills. When abuse happens inside a school, a sports program, or an organization connected to those systems, the records proving what that institution knew usually sit inside the system itself, not with the person who abused you.

That is the fight we know how to have. We spent 10 years forcing the release of more than 10,000 pages of Archdiocese of Los Angeles personnel files naming priests the Church had already identified as dangerous, and we have gone after school districts, youth sports leagues, and law enforcement agencies the same way.

For more information about the responsibilities schools have to protect students, read our guide to the role of schools in preventing child sexual assault.

FAQs About Westlake Village Child Sexual Abuse Laws

Q: Will my name become public if I file a claim in Westlake Village?

A: Survivors of sexual abuse can often ask the court for permission to file using a Doe designation, which can keep your name off the public court record. California courts generally look favorably on this request in sexual abuse cases, but it isn’t automatic. You (or your attorney) have to ask for it, usually at the very start of the case, and the judge has to agree. We can walk you through exactly how this works before you decide anything.

Q: Can I sue the school, church, or organization, not just the person who abused me in California?

A: Yes, in many cases. If the organization knew or should have known about the danger and failed to act, California law allows survivors to pursue the institution directly.

Q: What if the abuse did not happen in Westlake Village itself?

A: That is fine. We take cases from throughout Los Angeles County and Ventura County, including Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Thousand Oaks, and the surrounding Conejo Valley.

Q: Do I need to decide today whether to move forward in Westlake Village?

A: No. Many survivors in West Village reach out just to understand their options before deciding anything. That conversation does not commit you to filing a claim.

Q: I do not remember every detail clearly. Does that hurt my case in California?

A: No. Gaps and fragmented memories are common in survivors of childhood abuse, and California’s discovery rules were written with that in mind. We build cases around records, patterns, and corroborating witnesses, not just your memory alone.

If your question is not answered here, contact us and we will answer it directly.

You Do Not Have to Carry This Alone

Every year that passes can put records further out of reach, but you get to decide when you are ready to talk about it. Contact DeMarco Law Firm and tell us what happened. We will tell you where you stand under California law and what holding the people and institutions responsible could look like for your Westlake case.