Sexual assault claims involving Loyola University Chicago
Claims arising at Loyola University Chicago in Chicago can run along two tracks at once, and they are not the same
thing. Title IX is a federal law governing how a school that receives federal funding responds to
a report of sexual harassment or assault. A civil claim is a separate action for the harm itself.
A survivor can have a Title IX complaint, a civil claim, both, or a civil claim where no Title
IX complaint was ever made. Being told the university’s process has concluded does not mean a
civil claim is over, and being dissatisfied with that process is not a prerequisite for one.
What the institution’s duty looks like
The questions are whether Loyola University Chicago knew, whether it should have known, and what it did. In a
campus setting that usually means: what was reported and to whom, what the institution did with a
report, whether the same person had been complained about before, and whether anyone was moved
rather than investigated.
Universities generate records continuously, conduct files, residence life reports, campus
security logs, Title IX office correspondence and personnel files. That evidence exists whether or
not you were believed at the time.
Who the claim runs against
Loyola is a private Jesuit university. Where the person responsible held a religious office as well as a university one, a claim can touch both the university and a religious institution, separate defendants, separate records, and in the case of a religious order, a separate complaint history that may long predate the university appointment.
How this campus is organised
Loyola operates across Rogers Park, the Water Tower campus and a health sciences campus in Maywood. As a Jesuit institution it is connected to a religious order with its own personnel records, which can predate any university appointment by decades.
If you were a student, staff member or neither
A claim does not depend on your having been enrolled. Staff, contractors, visitors and people
at campus events are all covered by the same institutional-liability questions.
Questions people ask
Will my name be public?
Steps can be taken to protect your identity in the court record, and they are raised before anything is filed.
What does it cost?
Nothing up front. These claims are taken on a contingency fee, so there is no fee if there is no recovery.