Child Abuse Law

Washington State law provides that a victim of child sexual abuse may bring suit at any time within 3 years after all of the harm from the abuse has been discovered. This means that even long-past sexual abuse cases may be pursued.

Sample Abuse Recoveries

$600,000 for a child victim of priest sexual abuse. The priest had been previously convicted of crimes against children. Another archdiocese had banished him because he abused children. The Archdiocese of Seattle knew this when it hired the priest to work in a parochial school and an athletic league affiliated with the church.


$250,000 for a victim of a single attempted sexual abuse and assault on a teenaged boy. The priest was well known to the Catholic Church as a molester, over decades, and had been transferred many times to new parishes after being detected. Other parishes had even warned about him in their parish newsletters, but these parishes were located in the Midwest, so he was moved to the Northwest, where he abused yet again.


$275,000 for an elderly victim of neglect in a nursing home whose wounds resulted in loss of her leg. She died not long after due to unrelated medical issues.


$250,000 for an elderly woman given the wrong dosage of medication, causing her to have seizures, fall, and sustain a fractured skull. She died not long afterward due to unrelated medical issues.