Sexual Abuse Survivor Claims

You decide what happens next

Coming forward is your decision, made on your schedule. A first conversation with us commits you to nothing. You do not need documents, exact dates, or a finished account of what happened, and we will not ask for details you are not ready to share.

What you tell us in a consultation stays confidential, whether or not you hire us. We can talk by phone or video if that is easier than coming to our Georgetown office. Many survivors reach out years or decades later. That is common, and the law in all three jurisdictions now reflects it.

A civil claim is separate from any criminal case. You do not need a police report, a prosecution, or a conviction to bring one. A civil case asks a different question: who is responsible for the harm, and what do they owe you for it.

How long do survivors have to file?

It depends on where the abuse happened: in Maryland there is no deadline for claims of sexual abuse that occurred while the survivor was a minor (Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 5-117(b)); in D.C., the deadline is generally the survivor's 40th birthday or five years after the survivor knew or reasonably should have known of the abuse, whichever is later (D.C. Code § 12-301(11)); and in Virginia, it is 20 years from when the claim accrues (Va. Code § 8.01-243(D)).

These are general rules. Claims against government bodies, claims involving events long ago, and claims against more than one institution can raise separate issues, so we look at the timeline at the start of every case.

Maryland: the Child Victims Act of 2023

In Maryland, a survivor may file a claim for sexual abuse that occurred while the survivor was a minor at any time, notwithstanding any statute of limitations, statute of repose, the Maryland Tort Claims Act, or the Local Government Tort Claims Act (§ 5-117(b)). That change, made by the Child Victims Act of 2023, also revived claims that older deadlines had already cut off. One limit remains: a claim that would have been time-barred before October 1, 2023 cannot be brought if the survivor has died before the case is filed (§ 5-117(d)).

Institutions challenged the revival of old claims. In February 2025, the Supreme Court of Maryland upheld the Act, holding that the earlier time bar was an ordinary statute of limitations and its expiration gave defendants no vested right to be free of liability (Roman Catholic Archbishop of Washington v. Doe, No. 9, Sept. Term 2024 (Md. Feb. 3, 2025)).

What damages limits apply in Maryland?

Maryland limits damages in many childhood sexual abuse cases, and in 2025 the General Assembly lowered those limits for older, revived claims filed on or after June 1, 2025: $700,000 in noneconomic damages against each private defendant, and $400,000 against a public body (§ 5-117(c); § 5-303(a)(4)).

The public-body limits appear in three places: § 5-303(a)(4) for local governments, § 5-518 for county boards of education, and Md. Code, State Gov't § 12-104(a)(2)(iii) for the State and its agencies. Because the private-defendant limit applies against each defendant, identifying every responsible institution can matter a great deal.

Claims against public schools have one more boundary. In June 2026, the Supreme Court of Maryland held that a county board of education keeps its sovereign immunity for claims based on conduct before July 1, 1971 (Board of Education for Wicomico County v. Sturm, No. 54, Sept. Term 2025 (Md. June 23, 2026)).

D.C.: extended deadlines since 2019

In D.C., a survivor who was abused before age 35 has until the 40th birthday, or five years from when the survivor knew or reasonably should have known of the abuse, whichever is later (D.C. Code § 12-301(11)). That longer period came from the Sexual Abuse Statute of Limitations Amendment Act of 2018, which took effect on May 3, 2019.

The same law opened a two-year window to revive claims that had already expired under the older rule. That window has closed: a claim that was time-barred before May 3, 2019 had to be filed within two years after that date (Perez v. KIPP DC Supporting Corp., 70 F.4th 570 (D.C. Cir. 2023)). If your claim had not expired by May 3, 2019, the longer period generally applies to it.

Two cautions. First, federal judges in D.C. have disagreed about whether the extended period reaches every claim against an institution, as opposed to the abuser (Doe v. Duke Ellington School of the Arts Project, No. 22-811 (D.D.C. Aug. 5, 2022)). Second, a claim against the District government itself, including its public schools, can require written notice to the Mayor within six months under D.C. Code § 12-309, which has no exception for abuse claims. Both are reasons not to wait.

Virginia: 20 years, with a special accrual rule

In Virginia, a claim for sexual abuse during childhood must be filed within 20 years after it accrues (Va. Code § 8.01-243(D)), and it does not accrue until the later of the survivor's 18th birthday or the date a licensed physician, psychologist, or clinical psychologist first tells the survivor about the injury and its connection to the abuse (Va. Code § 8.01-249(6)).

So every survivor of childhood abuse in Virginia has at least until age 38, and the clinician-communication rule can extend that further. The same accrual rule applies to abuse during a period of incapacity. When a treating professional first made that connection for you, and how it was recorded, can decide whether a claim is timely, so we gather those records early.

For abuse of an adult, Virginia allows 10 years for claims accruing on or after July 1, 2020, and 15 years when the abuser was a person of authority, meaning someone in a position of trust with influence over the victim's life (§ 8.01-243(D1), (D2)).

When is an institution responsible?

A school, church, youth program, or employer can be responsible when it knew or should have known of the danger and failed to act reasonably, and sometimes because the abuser was acting as its employee or agent; the exact theories differ by jurisdiction. Common claims include:

• Negligent hiring: placing someone with known or discoverable warning signs in a role with access to children.
• Negligent retention: keeping someone in that role after complaints, warnings, or red flags.
• Failure to protect a child in its care: a duty that can arise from the custodial relationship between an institution and the children entrusted to it.
• Negligent supervision: recognized in some jurisdictions but not as a stand-alone claim in Virginia.

Virginia illustrates how these rules work. In a case against a local church and its national denomination, the Supreme Court of Virginia allowed a survivor's claims to proceed on a special-relationship theory and on respondeat superior, while holding that Virginia does not recognize a free-standing claim for negligent supervision and that the negligent hiring and retention claims as pleaded were insufficient (A.H. v. Church of God in Christ, Inc., 297 Va. 604, 831 S.E.2d 460 (2019)). The Court also declined to decide charitable immunity at the pleading stage, because it is an affirmative defense.

The strongest institutional cases usually rest on the institution's own records: personnel files, prior complaints, internal reports, transfers, and the policies it adopted and did not follow. We pursue those records through the legal process so you do not have to confront the institution yourself.

Can I file without using my name?

Often, yes: courts in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia can allow survivors to proceed under a pseudonym such as "John Doe" or "Jane Doe," and Virginia sets out the test by statute (Va. Code § 8.01-15.1).

In Virginia, the court weighs whether the request is meant to preserve privacy in a sensitive and highly personal matter, any risk of retaliatory harm, the ages of the people whose privacy is at stake, whether the defendant is a government or private party, and any unfairness to the other side. The defendants are still entitled to know who you are, under whatever confidentiality protections the court sets (§ 8.01-15.1(B)).

Maryland and D.C. have no comparable statute, so the request is made by motion. Courts have allowed survivors to proceed anonymously in these cases, including survivors identified as "John Doe" in the Child Victims Act cases the Supreme Court of Maryland decided in 2025 and a survivor suing a D.C. public school in federal court. We raise anonymity at the start, before anything is filed in your name.

What working with us looks like

1. A confidential conversation. You share what you are comfortable sharing. We explain the deadlines and options that apply to you.
2. Quiet investigation. We gather school, church, employment, and treatment records and identify every institution that may share responsibility.
3. Your pace, your decisions. We tell you what each step involves before it happens, including what testimony would require, and you decide whether to go forward.
4. Privacy throughout. We seek pseudonym protection and confidentiality orders where available and handle communication with the other side.

Ryan Posey and Jacob Lebowitz are admitted in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. For how injury law works more broadly in each jurisdiction, see our overviews for D.C. injury cases, Maryland injury cases, and Virginia injury cases.

Related reading

• Maryland's Child Victims Act: no more deadlines for survivors
• How the 2025 amendments cut Child Victims Act damages after June 1
• Abuse at a Maryland public school and the 1971 cutoff for suing a school board
• Coming forward as a survivor in Maryland: anonymity and the process
• D.C.'s law for abuse survivors: extended deadlines and the two-year revival window
• A.H. v. Church of God in Christ: when Virginia institutions answer for abuse
• DMV Injury Guide: deadlines and the timeline of a case in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia
• DMV Injury Guide: what your case is worth, including Maryland's damages limits

Responsible attorneys: Ryan C. Posey and Jacob M. Lebowitz. Posey Lebowitz PLLC, 3221 M Street NW, Washington, DC 20007.