A group of brave survivors are stepping forward to demand justice after surviving sexual abuse in a children’s psychiatric hospital. Represented by Levy Konigsberg Partner Clark Binkley, 13 men and women filed sexual abuse lawsuits this week against the State of New Jersey for the repeated sexual abuse they suffered while confined as children at the Arthur Brisbane Child Treatment Center in Wall Township, New Jersey.
Since opening its doors in 1947, the Arthur Brisbane Child Treatment Center was a site of trauma and neglect for generations of New Jersey’s most vulnerable children. Decades of investigations revealed widespread abuse, overcrowding, and cruelty at the facility, until it was forced to close in 2005 under a wave of controversy. The children harmed by the culture of abuse that the State allowed to flourish carry their wounds to this day.
Since January 2024, numerous survivors have filed lawsuits alleging similar abuse at New Jersey’s juvenile detention facilities, including the New Jersey Training Schools at Jamesburg and Skillman. This brings the total number of Levy Konigsberg clients bringing claims against the State of New Jersey for sexual abuse in state-run youth facilities to 150. Given the growing volume of sex abuse lawsuits against the state, Levy Konigsberg has filed an application with the Supreme Court requesting that a multicounty litigation be established for centralized management of these cases.
Our legal team is leading the way in investigating sexual abuse claims from survivors of New Jersey’s youth detention and treatment facilities, and we have been taking legal action using the New Jersey Child Sexual Abuse Act.
According to the 150 claims filed since January 2024, many different staff at Arthur Brisbane and other state-run youth facilities were involved in sexual abuse, such as:
- Counselors
- Correctional/detention officers
- Supervisors
- Teachers
- Nurses
- And others
Despite the widespread sexual abuse of children at the state’s youth facilities, the State of New Jersey has done little over the decades to protect these children or to punish their abusers. It is this pattern of negligence on the part of agencies like the New Jersey Commission for Juvenile Justice and the Department of Human Services that has prompted the filing of these lawsuits. The state government’s shocking negligence in its failure to stop the sexual abuse of children in its care is detailed in the complaints that were filed this week.
Leading the Way for Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse
With the New Jersey Child Sexual Abuse Act of 2019, which extended the statute of limitations to age 55 for filing civil lawsuits in cases of child sexual abuse, survivors of abuse at facilities like Arthur Brisbane can seek justice and compensation, even for abuse that occurred many years ago.
Levy Konigsberg’s pioneering lawsuits on behalf of hundreds of men and women who were abused as children in youth facilities in New Jersey, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, and Pennsylvania have made national news, being covered by major outlets like the Assocaited Press and the New York Times. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9].
In announcing this week’s filings, Levy Konigsberg Partner Clark Binkley stated:
“Our courageous clients were sent to Arthur Brisbane as vulnerable children in need of care and support. Instead, the state looked the other way while they and countless other children were subjected to horrific abuse. The time for justice is decades overdue.”
Levy Konigsberg represents over 225 such survivors of sexual abuse at New Jersey’s youth detention and treatment facilities and plans to continue fighting tirelessly on their behalf.
Levy Konigsberg is a nationwide trial law firm with a proven track record of representing survivors of sexual abuse. We have the strength, size, and resources needed to file lawsuits against government agencies, religious groups, medical institutions, and more. If you want to know if you can file a claim for sexual abuse that occurred at Arthur Brisbane or other youth treatment or detention centers in New Jersey, then speak with our team today.
We are leading the way for lawsuits against many other New Jersey juvenile detention facilities, such as:
- New Jersey Training School
- Juvenile Medium Security Facility
- Union County Juvenile Detention Center
- Other county juvenile detention centers
- Residential Community Homes
Please call (800) 315-3806 now and request a free, initial consultation with our firm