Manayunk climbs the slope above the Schuylkill in rows of older houses, with a dense Main Street commercial strip of bars, restaurants and shops at the bottom. It is a neighborhood where people live close together and where a great many young people work late shifts in hospitality. Both parts matter after a sexual assault. A survivor may live a few doors from the person responsible, or work alongside them, or be told that a complaint would cost them the shifts they depend on. A civil claim is separate from the criminal process and can proceed whether or not you reported to police. Where the facts support it, it can reach an employer or landlord as well as the individual. A first conversation is free, private, and carries no obligation.
Manayunk is a Philadelphia neighborhood rather than a separate municipality, so civil claims arising here are filed in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas at City Hall, with some matters belonging in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. That surprises people who think of the neighborhood as its own small town. It also means the practical questions are city questions: what a public filing contains, what can be done to protect your identity, and how much you would be asked to describe and when. Those can be answered before you decide whether to file anything at all.
The Main Street strip runs on late hours, alcohol, and a young workforce moving between employers, and that combination puts many people in situations where an owner, a manager, or a regular customer holds more power than they do. Above the strip, the housing stock is older rowhomes, often divided into rentals, where landlords, building workers and contractors hold keys. Employers and landlords make choices about screening, supervision, and how they answer a complaint. When those choices allowed known conduct to continue, they can form part of a civil claim.
For Manayunk clients specifically, our sexual assault work most often covers: Sexual Assault Lawyers. Whichever of these brings you to us, the same firm-wide approach applies: you work directly with our attorneys and paralegals, the initial case review is free and confidential, and we prepare from day one as if the matter is going to trial.
