First Child Victims Act Trial Against New Jersey: $25 Million Verdict for Foster Care Survivor

New Jersey's Child Victims Act gave survivors of childhood sexual abuse a renewed window to sue institutions that failed them. In February 2024, attorneys from Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala (PCVA) and co-counsel Rebenack Aronow & Mascolo brought what became the first case under that law to actually reach trial against the state government.

The plaintiff entered New Jersey's foster care system at age five, around 1987, after her parents' drug abuse made the home unsafe. Over the years that followed, when she was roughly six to nine years old, she was placed in three successive foster homes. In each one she was sexually abused. In the third and longest placement she was repeatedly assaulted by the foster father and the foster mother's teenage son. Four adults in total committed the abuse; two of them were later criminally convicted of sexual assault.

At trial, PCVA's Vincent Nappo and RAM's Matthew Bonanno argued that state caseworkers were told about 'extremely disturbing and alarming' abuse but failed to adequately investigate the reports or remove the child from dangerous placements. The state's Division of Child Protection and Permanency (formerly DYFS) had the authority and the obligation to act, the plaintiffs argued, and repeatedly chose not to.

The jury deliberated and returned a verdict of $25 million, assigning 99% of liability to the state. Because New Jersey statutes cap damages against state entities at $12 million, Judge Patrick Bradshaw reduced the award to that ceiling per the agreed cap. Even at the capped figure, the result stood as the largest Child Victims Act verdict against the state to that point.

The suit had been filed in 2019. The verdict was returned March 12, 2024, after a three-week trial. PCVA and RAM together represent close to 175 Child Victims Act cases across New Jersey.