Fulginiti Law — Ken Fulginiti, Founder Representing survivors of childhood sexual abuse across Pennsylvania and New Jersey — against the individuals who caused harm and the institutions that enabled it. In 2026, a New Jersey jury returned a $3 million verdict in one of our childhood sexual abuse cases.
In brief: If you were sexually abused as a child, you may be able to hold both your abuser and the institution responsible — a church, religious order, school, camp, or youth program — accountable in civil court. The deadline to file is different in Pennsylvania than in New Jersey, and in some cases it turns on when you first connected the abuse to its harm. Talking to a lawyer is the only reliable way to know whether your claim is still open. Every conversation with our firm is confidential.
Holding Institutions Accountable, Not Just Individuals
Most childhood sexual abuse is made possible by an institution that looked away. An abuser rarely acts without an organization around him — one that hired him, placed him, supervised him, received complaints, and kept him in a position of trust with children anyway. Civil law lets survivors pursue that organization directly, on theories like negligent hiring, negligent supervision, negligent retention and vicarious liabilty.
That is where these cases are actually won or lost. The abuse itself is often decades old and undocumented; what an experienced practitioner looks for is the institution’s own paper — personnel files, reassignment records, prior complaints, insurance correspondence, the internal memos that show what the organization knew and when it knew it. A pattern of moving a known abuser from one posting to another, or of quietly settling earlier complaints, is frequently the evidence that turns a survivor’s account into an institutional case.
A Verdict That Shows What Accountability Looks Like
In July 2026, a Cape May County, New Jersey jury awarded $3 million to a woman who was sexually abused as a 14-year-old at a New Jersey retreat center in 1974. The center was operated by The Marianists (the Society of Mary), a Roman Catholic religious Order. Our client brought her case as “Jane Doe,” and with prejudgment interest the total recovery could approach $4 million.
What made the number significant is what it did not include: there was no claim for lost wages and no claim for medical bills. The entire award compensated the emotional harm our client carried for more than five decades. We believe this is likely the first jury verdict against the Marianists in New Jersey; there have been other lawsuits involving the Order, and we are still confirming whether comparable verdicts exist elsewhere.
We share this not as a promise of any particular result — every case is different, and past results do not guarantee future outcomes — but because it reflects how we approach these cases: we prepare them to be tried, not just filed.
Do you still have time to file? The deadline is different in each state.
This is the first question almost every survivor asks, and the answer depends on which state your case belongs in and the specific facts. Here is the current landscape.
New Jersey
New Jersey substantially reformed its law in 2019. Under S477, effective December 1, 2019, survivors of childhood sexual abuse can bring civil claims until their 55th birthday, or within seven years of when they first realize the abuse caused them harm — whichever is later. The same law opened a two-year “revival window,” from December 1, 2019 through November 30, 2021, that allowed survivors to bring claims that had previously expired. That revival window has closed. The 2019 law also narrowed the immunities that once shielded nonprofit, religious, and public institutions, opening the door to claims that an organization was negligent in how it hired, supervised, or retained an abuser.
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania’s 2019 law (Act 87) extended the deadline going forward: survivors of childhood sexual abuse can now sue until age 55. But Pennsylvania’s reform was not retroactive — it did not revive claims that had already expired under the prior deadline, so survivors who were already time-barred when the law took effect remain barred for now. Unlike New Jersey, Pennsylvania does not currently have a revival window for previously expired claims. Whether the state will open one has been debated in the legislature more than once, and it remains unsettled — which is exactly why a survivor whose claim may have lapsed should ask about it directly rather than assume. The law here can change.
Because the “discovery” piece of these rules is fact-sensitive, two survivors abused in the same year can have very different deadlines. Do not assume your claim has expired. The cost of asking a lawyer is nothing; the cost of assuming wrongly can be your entire case.
How a Childhood Sexual Abuse Case Works
You do not have to use your name. Courts routinely allow survivors to proceed anonymously, as “Jane Doe” or “John Doe,” as our New Jersey client did. Protecting your identity is one of the first things we address.
From there, the work is methodical. We start by identifying every party that may bear responsibility — the individual, and the institutions that placed or kept him near children. We gather and preserve records before they can disappear, often through subpoenas and document requests to the institution, other entities and its insurers. We work with survivors at their pace, because reconstructing a childhood trauma is not something to be rushed. And we prepare the case as if it will be tried, because institutions defend, deny and deflect, after 2,000 years of abuse, they still claim ignorance.
You will not be handed off to someone you never met. Every member of our firm handles your case and every member of our firm will know you personally.
Why Survivors Choose Fulginiti Law
We are a Philadelphia-based firm that has spent more than 35 years taking on well-resourced institutional defendants — hospitals, churches, corporations, insurers, etc. — and we bring that same posture to abuse cases. Ken Fulginiti founded the firm and has built its reputation on complex, catastrophic-harm litigation. We represent survivors on both sides of the Delaware — in Pennsylvania and New Jersey — and pursue claims wherever the abuse occurred. And, as our 2026 New Jersey verdict reflects, we try these cases when trying them is what accountability requires.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I still file if the abuse happened decades ago?
Possibly — it depends on your state and your facts. In New Jersey, survivors of childhood abuse generally have until age 55, or seven years from when they connected the abuse to its harm. In Pennsylvania, the age-55 deadline applies going forward, but claims that had already expired were not revived, and no revival window is currently open. The only reliable way to know where you stand is to have a lawyer review the specifics.
Do I have to reveal my identity publicly?
Not necessarily. Courts often permit survivors to proceed anonymously. Our New Jersey client tried her case as “Jane Doe.” We address identity protection at the outset.
Can I sue the institution, or only the abuser?
Often both. Survivors can pursue institutions directly for negligence in hiring, supervising, or retaining an abuser and for vicarious liability. New Jersey’s 2019 law specifically narrowed the immunities that previously protected nonprofit, religious, and public institutions in these cases.
What will it cost to talk to you?
Our discussions are free and confidential. We will explain how fees work should we move forward for your specific situation before you commit to anything.
How long do these cases take?
It varies widely with the facts, the institution, and the court. What we can tell you is that we press the defense to move forward as quickly as possible.
Talk to Fulginiti Law — Confidentially
The deadline to bring a claim is specific, and in some cases it turns on facts only a lawyer can assess — so the worst thing you can do is assume the door has already closed. If you survived childhood sexual abuse in Pennsylvania or New Jersey, we will tell you whether your claim may still be open and what it would take to hold the responsible institution accountable. There is no cost to ask, and what you tell us stays between us.
Call (215) 602-4204 or reach us through our contact page to speak with an attorney.
Fulginiti Law · One Commerce Square, 2005 Market Street, Suite 3710, Philadelphia, PA 19103 · (215) 602-4204
Support beyond the legal question: If you need someone to talk to, the RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline is free, confidential, and available 24/7 at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) and at online.rainn.org — whether or not you ever pursue a legal claim.
