Carbondale, IL Sexual Abuse Lawyer

Sometimes, it can feel as though you’ll never escape the aftereffects of sexual abuse. The emotional strain of abuse can stay with survivors for years and permanently change the way they interact with the world. However, sexual abuse lawyers in Carbondale, IL, know how to relieve at least some of the stress associated with these traumatic experiences.

Morelli Law Firm and its team of personal injury lawyers in Carbondale can help sexual abuse survivors and their families secure financial aid after an instance of abuse. We help survivors navigate the civil court system and represent their best interests by outlining the damages they deserve in the face of an offending party’s unchecked negligence.

You can contact our team today, free of charge, to learn more about how we can defend you.

What is Sexual Abuse?

Illinois recognizes sexual abuse as a distinct incident alongside exchanges involving sexual harassment or sexual assault. The state’s statutes note that sexual abuse tends to involve a minor or a resident under the age of 17 who finds themselves coerced or otherwise involved in a sexual encounter with someone over the age of consent. 

Illinois law states that no person under the age of 17 may legally consent to a sexual act with another party, particularly parties older than them. Parties older than the age of consent who attempt to coerce or otherwise engage a minor in a sexual act may face criminal consequences for their misconduct.

Moreover, parties who endure sexual abuse may open civil cases into that abuse. Those cases may allow survivors and their families to demand financial compensation for the financial, emotional, and physical losses a survivor endured due to their mistreatment. 

How Can Sexual Abuse Lawyers Help Families Recover?

Most families want to circle the wagons after an incident of sexual abuse. This community support can help a survivor address the severity of their abuse in a loving environment. However, there are benefits to allowing external professionals to lend a hand throughout the recovery process.

Our team brings decades of experience to a family’s efforts to process an incident of sexual abuse. We can connect survivors with resources that may help them recover while also representing survivors’ efforts to hold a liable party accountable for their abuse.

Morelli Law Firm’s civil attorneys do not work in the criminal court system and cannot help survivors initiate criminal cases against an offending party. We can, however, help survivors and their loved ones demand fair loss-based compensation from a negligent abuser. In this effort, we specifically:

Bring Forward Evidence of Wrongful Conduct

Anyone who files a personal injury claim in Illinois is obligated to uphold the court system’s burden of proof if they want their case to move forward. Our attorneys step in to ensure that you have the evidence you need to open a civil case against the party liable for your losses. 

This process may require us to return to the scene of an encounter or connect you with expert witnesses who can take stock of the severity of your losses. Even so, you can count on our team to address your losses with respect and care.

Help Value Your Case

Civil cases allow you to demand concrete financial aid from the party responsible for your sexual abuse. This means the personal injury claim you file with a civil judge can outline the value of the losses you sustained due to someone else’s malevolent behavior. Our sexual abuse attorneys in Carbondale, IL, can specifically help you request compensation for the following:

• Emergency medical care
• Lost wages or time spent away from work
• Emotional distress
• Pain and suffering
• PTSD and psychological therapy
• Property damage

Serve as Go-Betweens Throughout the Legal Process

We understand that sexual abuse survivors often don’t want anything to do with their abusers. While anyone who pursues a personal injury claim has the right to meet with a liable party for settlement negotiations, we never force these meetings. Moreover, we can take proactive steps to limit our clients’ exposure to the defendants involved in their cases.

We can even help your loved ones learn more about protective orders and how they can keep you safe from unwanted encounters with a liable party.

Morelli Law Firm Has Decades of Experience Protecting Survivors Like You

Morelli Law Firm understands that addressing an instance of sexual abuse puts the survivor and their family in a complicated emotional position. Our team wants to make it as easy as possible for survivors to not only recover damages for their losses but also protect themselves from any exchanges that might retraumatize them.

That’s where our decades of combined experience come into play. Our Carbondale sexual abuse lawyers have helped hundreds of survivors take evidence of their losses to civil court. We know how to work within the civil system without exposing our clients to danger or traumatic experiences, even while keeping a case’s filing deadline in mind.

Interested parties can read through our client testimonials to learn more about how our experience with sexual abuse survivors has made families’ lives easier in Illinois and beyond. We also invite all interested parties to book a free, no-obligation case evaluation with our team to learn more about our available services.

Your First Case Evaluation Comes Free of Charge

How do you hold someone accountable for sexual abuse? Families acting on behalf of injured parties can collaborate with Carbondale sexual abuse lawyers to bring evidence of a survivor’s losses to civil court. This effort allows Illinois’s civil judges to award injured parties and their families the damages they need to recover.

The civil process does not, unfortunately, hold an offender criminally accountable for their misconduct. Rather, the civil process offers justice to families in the form of financial support. You can contact Morelli Law Firm today to discuss what damages you may deserve after your incident and how we can win that support for you.