For many survivors of campus sexual abuse, the harm does not end with the abuse itself. It continues when they report and the school does little or nothing. In Illinois, how a college or university responded can be central to a claim.
You do not need to have reported the abuse to police, and nobody needs to have been charged. A civil claim asks what the college or university knew, what it should have known, and what it did. Attorney Ervin Nevitt, a partner at Coplan + Crane (Illinois bar registration 6319808, admitted 2014), reviews these claims.
Deliberate indifference under Title IX
Title IX governs how a federally funded school responds to a report. It can also support a lawsuit for damages where the school knew and responded with deliberate indifference. That standard focuses on the school's response once it had knowledge.
Institutional response failure
The theory that most often carries these claims is institutional response failure. It looks at what the institution did after it learned, or should have learned, of the abuse. In practice, several theories run together, and which one fits is a question about your facts rather than a category.
These claims are usually brought against the college or university, not only against the individual.
A separate state-law claim
Title IX and a civil claim are separate things. A state-law civil claim seeks compensation for the harm itself, not only for how the school handled the report. You can have one, the other, or both.
The type of school shapes the state-law claim. Where the institution is a state university, a state-law claim runs against its board in the Illinois Court of Claims. Where it is a community college, the Illinois Tort Immunity Act applies. Where it is private, neither applies, and the liability questions are the ordinary institutional ones.
Common Questions Around Response Failure Claims
Will my name be public? Steps can be taken to protect your identity in the court record. We explain them before anything is filed.
The person who did it has died. A claim can still proceed. It is usually brought against the institution that placed that person in a position of trust.
I am asking for someone else. That is fine and it happens often. The person involved has no obligation to do anything.
What happens when you contact us
You speak with a person, not a form or a script. You do not have to describe what happened in order to have the conversation. We look into which institution was responsible, what it knew, what records exist, and whether a claim can still be brought. That work costs you nothing.
We tell you plainly what is possible. If you decide not to go ahead, that is the end of it, and what you told us stays confidential. If you go ahead, we carry the filings, deadlines, records, and insurers. Steps can be taken to protect your identity in the court record.
Call (708) 671-6858 for a free, confidential case review.
