At least 29 Catholic priests and clergy members within the Mobile Archdiocese have been credibly accused of sexual misconduct involving minors, according to a list released by the Archdiocese at the start of 2020. These crimes took place in parishes and schools in Mobile, Bayou La Batre, and Daphne, among other locations. The accusations involved many levels of church leadership, including priests, brothers, and deacons.
Survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests and clergy in Mobile and throughout Alabama deserve justice for the profound trauma they were forced to endure. They also deserve compensation from their abusers and the church institutions and organizations that facilitated or turned a blind eye to the abuse. Most survivors have limited ability to influence whether their abusers face criminal charges. However, a clergy abuse lawyer can help them seek damages and other forms of relief by taking legal action in a civil lawsuit.
Childhood Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors Face Several Legal Challenges
Laws in Alabama do not make it easy for survivors to seek justice through a civil lawsuit. Currently, childhood clergy abuse survivors face one of the shortest time limits for taking legal action for their sexual abuse. Alabama's statute of limitations currently extends only until an abuse victim's 25th birthday. The deadline used to be 21 years of age, so the legislature is going in the right direction.
Also, there is cause for more hope. A State Bill was proposed in 2023 that would extend the filing deadline for child abuse survivors by 30 years, or until age 55. If the legislature enacts this bill into law, it will be a step in the direction of ensuring that child abuse survivors have additional access to the courts to see justice done.
The Catholic Priest Sexual Abuse Lawyers at Dolman Law Group are proud to represent our Mobile neighbors who are facing this situation. We help abuse survivors seek compensation for the harm they suffered as parishioners abused by Catholic Priests and clergy members as well as the Archdiocese of Mobile.
If you or a loved one survived sexual abuse by a priest in a Mobile-area parish, school, or other pastoral setting and would like to know more about your legal rights to compensation, contact us for a free and confidential case consultation with a Mobile Catholic priest and clergy sexual abuse lawyer.
We Represent Survivors of Catholic Priest and Clergy Sexual Abuse
The empathetic legal team at Dolman Law Group understands the complicated yet delicate nature of clergy sexual abuse matters. Our team of caring, dedicated injury attorneys has the know-how and resources to advocate for injured and grieving clients in the most devastating cases against some of the most powerful corporations and institutions.
As a personal injury law firm, one of our most heart-wrenching practice areas involves representing survivors of sexual violence, including clients who suffered abuse committed by Catholic priests and clergy members. These are special cases deserving every ounce of compassion and determination our team can muster. It takes enormous courage for our clients to step forward to reveal their painful histories of abuse.
Our mission in these matters is, first and foremost, to listen to our clients and understand their goals and priorities in seeking our help. We then craft personalized, intelligent legal strategies to meet each client's unique needs and to ensure that they always know they control how a case proceeds.
Dolman Law Group has an impressive track record of success in obtaining compensation on behalf of our clients through settlements and jury verdicts. Our successes have enabled us to develop the know-how and financial resources to challenge Church institutions in and out of court, no matter how many defense lawyers or insurance representatives stand between our client and a fair and just result.
We have recovered millions in compensation for our clients, but we can't guarantee that you will receive similar compensation through the legal process. We do promise, however, to treat you with the dignity and respect you deserve and to fight tirelessly for the best possible outcome in your particular circumstances.
What Legal Challenges Do Survivors of Mobile Priest and Clergy Sexual Abuse Face?
Revealing Sexual Abuse Takes Time
Survivors of sexual abuse by priests in Mobile can encounter many roadblocks when seeking compensation for the harm they have experienced. As child protection leaders have observed, many U.S. statutes of limitations too often fail to consider the difficulties that survivors of clergy sexual abuse encounter when coming forward with their stories.
For many survivors, it can take years to be ready to tell those closest to them about the abuse they suffered, let alone reveal it to strangers in the course of a legal proceeding. By the time they are ready to take that courageous step, many survivors find that the statute of limitations has already expired on their rights to seek compensation in Mobile courts.
Many states have begun to amend their filing laws to give survivors of childhood sexual abuse the time they need to confront their past. It can be painful to recognize that what happened to them is a criminal, predatory act, and by revealing it to others, they can finally exercise some degree of control. Some states have even opened so-called “look-back windows” to give survivors whose legal rights had already expired the opportunity to file a claim.
Alabama Needs to Do More to Protect Childhood Abuse Survivors
Unfortunately, for now, Alabama is not one of those states, although the modest extension of the statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse claims was a step in the right direction. Currently, Mobile survivors of childhood clergy sexual abuse have until their 25th birthdays to commence a legal action seeking monetary damages and other relief in civil court.
A pending Alabama State Bill, SB 127, looks to extend the civil lawsuit filing deadline for child abuse claims to the survivor's 55th birthday. The team at Dolman Law Group is keeping a close eye on this bill and watching to see if Alabama finally takes the steps needed to help protect abuse victims' rights in the coming months.
Compensation Might Be Available Outside the Court System
Survivors of Mobile priest sexual abuse whose claims have already expired under Alabama's relatively strict statute of limitations law may still have the right to pursue justice against the abusers and the institutions that allowed the abuse. In releasing the names of credibly accused priests and clergy in the Mobile Archdiocese, the Church acknowledged its role in sheltering and failing to stop predatory priests from harming children and teens in their care. The Church may, in some instances, show a willingness to offer some amount of compensation to survivors of abuse that occurred long ago.
At Dolman Law Group, we encourage any survivor of clergy sexual abuse that occurred in Mobile, no matter how far in the past, to speak with our team about the legal options available to hold abuser priests and Church institutions accountable. We strongly believe that no survivor should have justice denied to them solely because of how long it took them to be ready to reveal the trauma that a priest inflicted on them as children or teens.
How We Can Help Survivors of Clergy Sexual Abuse in Mobile, AL
Every survivor of priest sexual abuse who contacts the team at Dolman Law Group has a unique and intensely personal story to tell. It takes enormous courage to take that step. We commit ourselves, as lawyers and as human beings, to treat every survivor with dignity and compassion.
We understand that different abuse survivors decide to speak for different reasons. Some need closure. Others want the Church to acknowledge their unique, personal trauma. Many hope to receive financial compensation to pay for the cost of their healing process. Virtually all want to do what they can to protect other children from these predatory priests.
Our first job as lawyers for priest abuse survivors is to listen and understand. When we believe we can help, we get to work immediately developing a legal strategy tailored to our client's unique goals and priorities. We present our clients with options and give them our best recommendations. Our clients, however, always remain completely in control of their cases. We only act with their understanding and permission.
The specific legal options we recommend to our Mobile sexual abuse clients can vary, depending upon the circumstances. However, we frequently pursue one or more of the options described below.
Clergy Sexual Abuse Attorneys Can File Civil Lawsuits Seeking Monetary Damages
No amount of money can erase the trauma of Catholic priest sexual abuse. However, sometimes we recommend filing a lawsuit for monetary damages on behalf of an abuse survivor because we know that money can help them pay for the emotional, mental, and even physical care and support they need. It can also serve as an acknowledgment from the Church that their trauma is real, justified, and deserves a remedy.
We can never promise a client that a lawsuit will result in a payment, nor can we say with certainty how much money (if any) they may receive from a settlement or jury verdict in their case. Every case has unique aspects that determine how it might turn out.
What we can and do promise, however, is that our team will work diligently to serve your interests, that we will listen to you and respond to your questions, and that you always have the final say about when and how to proceed with any legal action we take on your behalf.
Abuse Civil Lawsuits May Also Seek Other Kinds of Relief
Because money is not a cure-all, sometimes survivors of priest sexual abuse in Mobile ask us if their lawsuits can also demand other non-monetary results. Frequently, the answer is “Yes.” Courts have wide-ranging powers to order parties who appear before them to take specific actions. In lawsuits against Church institutions for priest sexual abuse, survivors have frequently asked courts to order the Church to take steps to increase transparency and deter future acts of abuse.
The Dolman Law Group team encourages survivors to tell us if their priorities include forcing Church institutions to make those sorts of changes. We can often craft legal claims to include requests for non-monetary and protective measures.
We Guide Abuse Survivors If They Participate in the Prosecution of Sexual Abuser Priests
In Mobile, the job of pursuing criminal charges against perpetrators of sexual abuse belongs to the Mobile County District Attorney in most cases. Sometimes, the Alabama Attorney General may also be involved in the decision to prosecute sexual abuse crimes.
When deciding whether to prosecute a sexual abuser priest, those government officials will often seek evidence from a survivor. They may ask to interview the survivor informally, request that the survivor make a formal accusation to law enforcement, and request the survivor to serve as a witness in a criminal trial.
At Dolman Law Group, we strongly believe it is a survivor's choice whether and how to assist prosecutors in preparing or pursuing criminal charges against a Mobile sexual abuser priest. Some survivors are eager to participate. Others are not. We support our clients in making that decision by giving them sound, compassionate legal counsel and by advocating for them in every setting so that their rights are protected no matter what they decide.
Our Client's Interest Is Our Sole Interest
As lawyers for survivors of Catholic priest sexual abuse nationwide, the Dolman Law Group team understands the immense responsibility we have to serve each client's best interests in everything we do. We are our clients' sworn advocates and take that sacred duty seriously. Everything our clients tell us in the confidence of the attorney-client relationship stays completely confidential unless and until our clients permit us to disclose it in the course of our representation of them.
Survivors of priest sexual abuse in Mobile deserve nothing less than our total commitment to honoring their wishes, keeping their confidences, and protecting their legal interests.
Contact a Mobile Clergy Sexual Abuse Lawyer at Dolman Law Group to Learn More
Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers, PA lawyers spend their careers fighting for justice and compensation on behalf of people injured by someone else's wrongful actions. Survivors of priest sexual abuse who seek our counsel find our team ready, willing, and able to hear them, honor them, and advocate for them. We provide survivors with clear, intelligent legal advice about their legal options, design personalized legal strategies to fit their needs, and stand up for their rights against the most powerful institutions, including the Catholic Church.
If a Mobile Catholic priest or clergy member sexually abused you or a loved one, and you want to learn about your legal rights to seek justice and compensation, the compassionate, dedicated clergy sexual abuse lawyers at Dolman Law Group are here to help. We advocate for survivors of priest sexual abuse nationwide. Contact us online or toll-free at 833-552-7274 for a free, confidential, no-obligation case evaluation.
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