Students abused at a Fort Lauderdale-area school or university may sue the institution itself, not only the individual who caused the harm, on theories such as negligent supervision and violations of Title IX. A Fort Lauderdale school sexual abuse lawyer at Horowitz Law can explain which of those paths is open in a given situation.
Horowitz Law represents survivors of sexual abuse and sexual assault, and nothing else. Our attorneys bring civil claims against the schools, districts, colleges, and youth programs that had a duty to keep a student safe.
If you or your child was abused by a teacher, coach, staff member, or another student, you can talk it through with us at no cost and in confidence. Call (954) 641-2100 whenever you are ready.
Can You Sue a Fort Lauderdale School for Sexual Abuse?
Yes, and the answer does not depend on whether anyone was arrested. A civil claim against a school turns on what the institution knew and what it did, which is a separate question from the criminal case against an individual.
Schools are not liable simply because abuse happened on their property. They become responsible when they were careless with the trust placed in them: hiring without screening, ignoring complaints, leaving a known problem in place, or failing to supervise an adult who had private access to students.
In our work, the decisive evidence is almost always internal. Personnel files, prior complaints, reassignment records, and emails between administrators tend to show whether a warning was acted on or filed away.
Public District or Private School? The Answer Changes Everything
The single most important early question in a Broward school abuse lawsuit is whether the school is a public entity or a private one, because the rules are genuinely different.
Public schools and state colleges
Broward County Public Schools and Florida's public colleges are government subdivisions, and claims against them run through section 768.28 of the Florida Statutes. Two features of that statute drive everything: recovery is capped at $200,000 per person and $300,000 per incident, and the claimant must present the claim in writing to the agency within three years after it accrues before a lawsuit can be filed.
That written notice is a condition of suing at all. Missing it can end an otherwise strong Broward school abuse lawsuit, which is why families should not wait to get the calendar right.
Private schools and universities
Private institutions carry no sovereign immunity and no statutory damages cap. Claims against them proceed under ordinary negligence principles, and the available recovery is measured by the harm rather than by a legislative limit.
South Florida has both kinds of institutions side by side, from the Broward district's schools to private campuses like Nova Southeastern University and independent day schools across the county. Which category a school falls into shapes the deadline, the ceiling, and the strategy, so it is the first thing our attorneys check.
How Does Title IX Apply to Campus Sexual Abuse?
Title IX bars sex discrimination, including sexual harassment and sexual violence, at any education program that receives federal funding. That reaches public school districts and nearly every college and university in the country, as the U.S. Department of Education explains.
For survivors, the practical significance is that a school's response is itself actionable. Courts have held that an inadequate institutional response to known harassment can amount to sex discrimination, which opens a federal claim alongside any state-law negligence claim.
Every covered school must also designate a Title IX coordinator and publish that person's contact information. What a school did after a report reached that office, or failed to do, frequently becomes the center of the case.
What Kinds of School Abuse Claims Do We Handle?
Our Fort Lauderdale school sexual abuse attorneys handle claims arising anywhere a student was placed in an adult's private care, on campus or off. That includes:
- Abuse by teachers, aides, counselors, and administrators
- Coaches and athletic staff, including private lessons and away trips
- Bus drivers, custodial staff, and contracted vendors
- Music, theater, and tutoring instructors working one to one
- Campus sexual assault at colleges and universities, including dorm and fraternity settings
- Student-on-student abuse the school knew about and did not stop
- Abuse in preschools, aftercare, and summer programs run on school property
Because minors are involved in many of these matters, the claims often overlap with abuse of children at local schools more broadly, and our South Florida campus abuse attorneys handle both together rather than as separate files.
Florida's Reporting Duty and Why It Matters to Your Case
Florida requires reporting of known or suspected child abuse, and the duty is universal rather than limited to designated staff. Under chapter 39 of the Florida Statutes, any person who knows or has reasonable cause to suspect that a child has been abused must report it to the state's central hotline.
This creates a documentary record that civil cases depend on. When a teacher or administrator suspected something and made no report, that failure is evidence of how the institution operated, and it can support a negligence claim directly.
It also cuts the other way in a useful sense. If a report was made and the school still left the adult in place, the paper trail shows the institution had actual knowledge.
Why Families Choose Horowitz Law
You are entitled to know what you are getting before you call. This is what we can tell you:
- This is our only practice area. Our attorneys handle sexual abuse claims and decline general injury work, which keeps our attention on institutional cases.
- We are a Fort Lauderdale firm. Our office is on East Broward Boulevard downtown, and Broward institutions, insurers, and defense counsel are familiar ground for us.
- We litigate against institutions, not just individuals. Getting personnel files, complaint histories, and administrator communications is the core of the work.
- We handle the sovereign immunity mechanics. The written claim presentation and the notice calendar under section 768.28 are technical, and we manage them so a family does not lose a claim on a procedural point.
- Privacy is planned, not patched. We discuss pseudonym filings and protective orders before anything is filed.
- You work with a team. Adam Horowitz founded the firm, and our attorneys handle these matters collaboratively.
You can also read about how school abuse claims work nationwide, since we bring these cases well beyond Florida. To talk about a specific situation, call (954) 641-2100 for a free, confidential consultation.
How Long Do You Have to Bring a School Abuse Claim?
The deadline depends on the survivor's age at the time, the type of claim, and whether the school is public. Section 95.11 of the Florida Statutes supplies the general rules.
- Negligence claims generally carry a two-year limit for causes of action accruing after Florida's 2023 change to that statute.
- Intentional tort claims founded on abuse may be brought within seven years after the survivor turns 18, within four years after leaving the abuser's dependency, or within four years of connecting the injury to the abuse, whichever is latest.
- Sexual battery against a survivor under 16 may be filed at any time under section 95.11(10), unless the claim was already barred on or before July 1, 2010.
- Claims against a public district carry the separate three-year written presentation requirement described above.
Adults who were abused as students decades ago sometimes assume the door has closed, and that is not always so. It costs nothing to find out where you actually stand.
What a School Abuse Claim May Recover
The point of these cases is not money for its own sake. It is accountability, and it is making sure a student has what they need to recover and keep moving forward.
A claim may address therapy and psychiatric care, medical treatment, tutoring or educational costs when schooling was disrupted, lost earning capacity, and the emotional harm itself. Litigation also compels an institution to answer under oath for decisions it has never explained.
What we will not do is put a number on your case in a first conversation. Anyone who does is guessing.
What Does the Process Look Like From Here?
It starts with a conversation and moves at a pace you set. Nothing gets filed because you made a phone call.
If we take the case, our first work is documentation. We send preservation letters so a district or campus cannot quietly discard files, then pursue the personnel record, the complaint history, disciplinary and reassignment decisions, hiring and screening files, mandated-report records, and communications among administrators. For a public district we prepare and serve the written claim presentation on the calendar the statute requires.
From there we work with clinicians and other qualified professionals who can describe the harm and the supervision standards a school departed from. Depositions come later, and by then you know what to anticipate.
Throughout, we take steps to keep a survivor's identity out of the public record where the court allows it, including pseudonym filings, sealed exhibits, and agreements limiting who may see sensitive material. Families tell us this is the part they worry about most, so we address it at the beginning rather than the end.
Most cases resolve without a trial. We prepare each one as though it will not, because that is what gives a survivor leverage in the meantime.
FAQs Answered by Our Fort Lauderdale School Sexual Abuse Lawyer
Below are the questions parents and adult survivors raise most often when they first contact our attorneys about school and campus abuse.
Can I still sue if the school already investigated and cleared the employee?
Often, yes. An internal finding is not binding on a court, and the investigation itself becomes evidence. How the school gathered facts, who it interviewed, and what it chose not to look at all matter to a negligence claim.
My child does not want to talk about it. Can a claim still move forward?
Frequently it can. Much of the early work involves records rather than testimony, and there are ways to limit and prepare for a child's participation. We would rather build the case around your child's readiness than push a timeline on them.
Does it matter that the abuse happened off campus?
Not necessarily. What matters is whether the school created or ignored the access. Private lessons, team travel, school-sponsored trips, and staff contact through school accounts can all support institutional responsibility.
What if the abuser was another student?
A school can be responsible for student-on-student abuse when it knew about the risk and responded inadequately. This is a common Title IX pattern, particularly where earlier complaints went nowhere.
Will my child have to change schools or face the abuser?
A civil claim does not require either. We can seek protective measures, and depositions and hearings are structured to avoid direct contact wherever possible.
Is a criminal conviction required first?
No. Civil claims use a lower standard of proof than criminal cases, and many of the claims we handle involve conduct that was never charged.
Speak With Our Fort Lauderdale School Abuse Attorneys
Institutions that let a student down often keep the record to themselves, and families deserve better than a form letter. Our attorneys can tell you what a claim would involve, what the deadlines look like, and whether we think it is worth pursuing.
You can read more about our Fort Lauderdale sexual abuse attorneys and the survivors we serve across Florida and nationwide. When you want to talk, call Horowitz Law at (954) 641-2100 for a free and confidential consultation.