I was the victim of an attempted rape and want to sue

I was the victim of an attempted rape when I was 13. The perpetrator was also 13. I'm 19 now and would like to sue them. I currently live in California. She lives in Pennsylvania right now.

The perpetrator and I are both American citizens. However, the incident happened in Japan during a school trip. I didn't report it at the time. I know it would be unlikely for me to get her prosecuted criminally, but I believe a civil lawsuit would have a better chance of me winning.

Would I be likely to win this case? There were 3 witnesses to the incident, all of which live in different states right now. I do not have their contact information, other than knowing their social media pages.

I'm sorry - your time and money would be better spent on therapy. The likelihood of a successful outcome and any real monetary award is extremely small - virtually non-existent to be honest.

Anon011274358 said:

I didn't report it at the time.

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Why not? Why didn't the three people you claimed witnessed the incident report it?

Anon011274358 said:

I believe a civil lawsuit would have a better chance of me winning.

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I suppose "better" is true, but your chances of winning would still be virtually non-existent. What damages do you claim to have suffered as a result of this attempted rape? Also, because the incident took place in another country, it's at least somewhat likely a U.S. court would decline to hear the case based on a doctrine called forum non conveniens.

Anon011274358 said:

There were 3 witnesses to the incident

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Can we safely assume you have no idea how they'd testify (i.e., you haven't spoken with any of them about this recently)?

Anon011274358 said:

3 witnesses . . . all . . . live in different states right now. I do not have their contact information, other than knowing their social media pages.

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So...we have you in California, the potential defendant in Pennsylvania, and three witnesses in State X, State Y and State Z. For starters, where would you file your lawsuit? You could file in Pennsylvania because that's where the potential defendant lives. It's possible you might be able to file in California (e.g., if you both were California residents at the time of the trip), but you haven't given us any facts to support jurisdiction in California.

So...let's say you file in an appropriate state, and let's say that you overcome a forum non conveniens motion. You'd then need to take depositions of the three alleged witnesses. There are proceedings for taking a deposition of a person in State X relating to a lawsuit pending in State A. However, they cost money. Your lawyer would have to travel for each deposition, and you'd have to retain an attorney in each of States X, Y and Z. You'd also have to spend money tracking down each of the witnesses to serve them with the necessary papers to compel their depositions. What if their testimony doesn't support you? Your lawyer could, of course, try to speak with them in advance of a deposition and only depose the witnesses whose testimony supports you. However, the potential defendant could depose the others.

Then you go to trial. You testify, and the defendant testifies. You can't compel your out-of-state witnesses to come to another state to testify, so the best you could do would be to play video of their depositions. Video testimony is fine in some cases, but having most of your witnesses appear by pre-recorded video is a great way to lose a jury.

And then what are your damages? You say this was only an attempted rape.

The bottom line here is that you have virtually no chance of succeeding. You probably have even less of a chance of getting a lawyer to take the case on contingency. Do you have $50,000 or so to cover attorneys' fees and costs?

zddoodah said:

Do you have $50,000 or so to cover attorneys' fees and costs?

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I think you are underestimating that considering the spread-out nature of it all.

Hmmmm.....

I wonder.

Datacamp Limited is an internet service provider which operates in Switzerland. Currently it ranks on the place 7 from 142 providers in Switzerland. Average results for Datacamp Limited.

Either spam seed or a troll. If it gets out of hand, it's gone.

89.187.180.10 ( Datacamp Limited ) Fraud Risk

Anonymizing VPN. The OP could be anywhere in the world.

Since I didn't see anyone else mention it, and for what it's worth, both parties were minors at the time. Suing now for civil damages is not an option.

mightymoose said:

Since I didn't see anyone else mention it, and for what it's worth, both parties were minors at the time.

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Not sure why that would matter. Of course, since this occurred in Japan, Japanese law matters a lot (and is one of the reasons why a court might dismiss the case under the doctrine of forum non conveniens).

I'm not sure I have heard of an adult being sued in civil court for an alleged act as a 13 year old.
Had it been timely, it is the parents of the minor who would be sued.

Granted, the Japan location throws a twist in it.

I'll defer any further discussion until and unless the OP returns.

zddoodah said:

I'll defer any further discussion until and unless the OP returns.

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Still here. Since I was a minor when the attempted rape happened, the statute of limitations in California and Pennsylvania still hasn't passed. Which state would I file the lawsuit in?

Anon011274358 said:

Still here. Since I was a minor when the attempted rape happened, the statute of limitations in California and Pennsylvania still hasn't passed. Which state would I file the lawsuit in?

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Before deciding whether or not to sue, decide if you should even consider suing. What are your provable damages?

Anon011274358 said:

Since I was a minor when the attempted rape happened, the statute of limitations in California and Pennsylvania still hasn't passed. Which state would I file the lawsuit in?

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If you are able to initiate a lawsuit after six years (or more) has elapsed, the proper venue for the lawsuit would be in the location where the alleged crime took place.

It would appear from your recollection of the event, that would be somewhere in Japan.

If this was a school sponsored event, there might be the slim possibility to bring a lawsuit against the school that sponsored the trip.

I suggest you contact several lawyers in the state where the school operates and see what options, if any, are available to you.

Zigner said:

Before deciding whether or not to sue, decide if you should even consider suing. What are your provable damages?

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Mental distress. I had to seek therapy.

Anon011274358 said:

Mental distress. I had to seek therapy.

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What are your out of pocket expenses for that therapy?

Anon011274358 said:

Since I was a minor when the attempted rape happened, the statute of limitations in California and Pennsylvania still hasn't passed.

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That would be great for you if the incident happened in either of those states.

Anon011274358 said:

Which state would I file the lawsuit in?

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I covered this in detail in my prior response in this thread (post #3). Please read (or re-read) it and ask questions if you don't understand. Please also answer the several questions I asked.