Latest News

Trauma-informed healthcare for molested children

Published on: March 7, 2016 | By Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, LLP

A new approach to helping sexually abused children

The National Center for Trauma-Informed Care and Alternatives to Seclusion and Restraint, or NCTIC defines trauma-informed healthcare as “an approach to engaging people with histories of trauma (such as childhood sexual abuse) that recognizes the presence of trauma symptoms and acknowledges the role that trauma has played in their lives.”

What exactly is “trauma”? The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, or SAMHSA, holds that “individual trauma results from an event, series of events, or set of circumstances that is experienced by an individual as physically or emotionally harmful or life-threatening and that has lasting adverse effects on the individual’s functioning and mental, physical, social, emotional, or spiritual well-being.”

Continue reading →

New Study Provides Hope for Child Sex Abuse Victims

Published on: March 2, 2016 | By Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, LLP

Helping Child Sex Abuse Victims & their Parents Move Forward

Much attention is being paid to victims of child sex abuse before and during the criminal trial of their abuser. Victims receive the customary outpouring of public sympathy and righteous indignation on their behalf. But what happens after the abuser is convicted and imprisoned?

The psychological and physical problems resulting from the sexual abuse don’t just fade away with the public furor. Childhood sexual abuse often causes a lifetime of mental health issues. Victims battle with feelings of guilt, shame, fear, and anxiety for years afterward. They often have difficulty forming meaningful relationships as adults. In extreme cases, sex abuse victims turn to self-harm or suicide to escape their mental strife.

Continue reading →

Protecting Children from Financial Abuse in Sex Abuse Settlements

Published on: January 10, 2016 | By Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, LLP

What happens when a child receives money from a legal settlement?

Whenever a young child receives a financial settlement, the potential for financial fraud exists. Minors don’t have the same rights as adults when it comes to sex abuse settlements. And they cannot enter into any agreements on their own. As a result, this means that they can’t bring lawsuits, make settlement decisions, open bank or investment accounts, fund annuities, or purchase real estate. As a result, a competent adult must perform these acts on the minor’s behalf.

Thankfully, the courts in California supervise sex abuse settlements made to minors. Furthermore, court orders are necessary to approve all forms of sex abuse settlements with minor plaintiffs.

Continue reading →

Sex Abuse Lawsuit Filed as a Result of Molestation by Wrestling Coach

Published on: December 27, 2015 | By Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, LLP

Sex Abuse Lawsuit Filed against San Ramon Unified School District Due to Molestation by Wrestling Coach

District officials allegedly failed to detect predatory grooming behavior for over ten years, giving coach the opportunity to molest.

The San Jose, California law firm of Cerri, Boskovich & Allard has filed a childhood sexual abuse lawsuit against the San Ramon Unified School District, New Life Church of Alamo and convicted predator and former California High School wrestling coach Kevin Lopez.

Continue reading →

Audrie Pott Case

Published on: June 1, 2015 | By Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, LLP

Justice for Audrie Pott and Her Family

Audrie Pott was just 15 years old when she was sexually assaulted. She was then photographed and humiliated at school by her assailants. Audrie Pott took her life eight days later. After waiting seven months for law enforcement to charge the assailants, the parents of Audrie Pott turned to attorney Robert Allard. Mr. Allard filed a civil lawsuit against the assailants and their families.

The civil lawsuit and the publicity surrounding Audrie’s sexual assault and suicide led to two significant changes in the law and a public apology from the assailants. The San Jose Mercury News reported that the civil case did a “service to the broader public” by “reminding us of the courts’ ability to bring clarity to societal issues-and the value of individuals who take grievances public in ways that help shift the course of history toward a truer justice.”

Continue reading →

Nicolas Lhermine, YMCA Childcare Worker Sex Abuse Case Hearing

Published on: September 23, 2014 | By Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, LLP

Nicolas Lhermine, YMCA Childcare Worker Sex Abuse Preliminary Hearing

Nicolas Lhermine is ordered to stand trial on sex abuse charges following a preliminary hearing in which the victims testified in this childcare worker sex abuse case. Nicolas Lhermine faces six felony charges, the most being severe oral copulation or penetration of a child under 10, which may result in a sentence of 15 years to life in prison.

Continue reading →

Keith Woodhouse Found Guilty of Child Molestation

Published on: October 1, 2013 | By Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, LLP

Keith Woodhouse Convicted

Keith Woodhouse was convicted today of 30 felony counts of lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14. Woodhouse was hired by Child Development Center, Inc. (CDI) to work at its day-care programs at Trace and El Rancho Elementary Schools in San Jose. While working at these locations, Woodhouse molested nine young girls.

Childhood molestation attorney Robert Allard, representing seven of the victims, issued the following statement. “The families are relieved that criminal justice has been imposed on a serial pedophile. Now we can turn our attention to repairing the damage to these children by holding accountable those organizations which allowed this to happen. Both the then-current and former employer of Woodhouse knew or should have known that he presented a grave risk to children. As a result, steps should have been taken to protect them. Instead, they were left vulnerable and unprotected and as a consequence savagely molested.”

Continue reading →

Morgan Hill YMCA Sex Abuse

Published on: August 8, 2013 | By Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, LLP

Nicolas Lhermine, Morgan Hill YMCA Employee Charged with Sex Abuse of Children

Reports are surfacing that accused child molester, Nick Lhermine of the Morgan Hill YMCA, may have sexually abused numerous children at the Paradise Valley Elementary School daycare facility. The YMCA of Silicon Valley is responsible for the administration of 12 Association Centers in the area. This includes the Mt. Madonna YMCA,which operates the YMCA – Paradise Valley summer child care day camp on the premises of Paradise Valley Elementary School in Morgan Hill. Furthermore, the lawsuit claims that Lhermine was hired as an aide in February of 2011.

Citing court documents and interviews with law enforcement, reports from the news media indicate that at least four children have come forward indicating they were victims of Lhermine’s sex abuse at the Morgan Hill YMCA’s childcare facility located at Paradise Valley Elementary School. As a result, Nicolas Lhermine is accused of molesting children as young as 5 and 7 years old.

Continue reading →

Traina Elementary School Sexual Abuse

Published on: August 8, 2013 | By Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, LLP

Darrel Golden, a fourth-grade teacher at Anthony C. Traina Elementary School in Tracy, faces child molestation charges which involve at least 12 children. Golden is reportedly charged with 33 counts of lewd acts on a child and child molestation. The alleged victims include 10 girls and two boys, ranging in age from 7 to 10 years old.

Attorney Robert Allard is familiar with molestation cases involving teachers. Mr. Allard is currently representing the parents of multiple children in a case involving convicted O.B. Whaley school teacher Craig Chandler.

In the ongoing case against O.B. Whaley School and the Evergreen Elementary School District, Mr. Allard has dug deep to uncover evidence that demonstrated that the school had advance warning of Chandler’s behavior and yet took no action. For parents who find themselves facing teachers like Darrel Golden at Tracy’s Traina Elemetary School, Mr. Allard has this advice:

Continue reading →

Evergreen School District Sex Abuse Scandal Made Worse with Non-Compliance of a Federal Law to Protect Students from Molestation According to NBC Bay Area

Published on: February 15, 2013 | By Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, LLP

NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit claims the Evergreen School District ignored a federal law designed to protect students in molestation and sex abuse cases like the one involving O.B. Whaley School and their former teacher Craig Chandler and Principal Lyn Vijayendran. Title IX requires schools to have a system in place to file sexual harassment and sex abuse complaints, a trained coordinator to process them and that this information be made public for staff, students and parents. According to the report, at the time of the alleged sex abuse, Evergreen did not have a trained Title IX coordinator or contact information published online.

“If they had followed the law appropriately, none of this would have happened,” attorney Robert Allard told NBC Bay Area.