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In addition the criminal charges against GH


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Does anyone here know if,under Pa law, GH could still be sued by his alleged victims  in Civil Court ?

I know  the "burden of proof" standard  in Civil Court is much lower then a criminal case .

 

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1 hour ago, rpbobcat said:

Does anyone here know if,under Pa law, GH could still be sued by his alleged victims  in Civil Court ?

I know  the "burden of proof" standard  in Civil Court is much lower then a criminal case .

 

my hunch would be if the current process doesn't work out to their advantage, that would probably be the avenue taken

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1 hour ago, rpbobcat said:

Does anyone here know if,under Pa law, GH could still be sued by his alleged victims  in Civil Court ?

I know  the "burden of proof" standard  in Civil Court is much lower then a criminal case .

 

In a word, Yes.  It is called a 'torts' case - person A sues person B for damages to person A due to some act (of commission or omission) allegedly perpetrated by person B.  The lawyers for person A typically will get a percentage of the damages (25%-33%).  Best example I can come up with off top of head is after OJ Simpson was acquitted of the criminal charges the Goldman family sued for wrongful death & was awarded $70M in damages.(although I don't think they collected anywhere near that amount - only so much blood in a turnip).

Yes, the rules of evidence are different and standard of proof (preponderance of evidence for civil vs reasonable doubt for criminal) is lower but substantial nonetheless. 

Edited by IllianaLancerContra
more better English
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In before the close. :tongue:

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The PA statutes of limitation are much shorter on civil cases (generally 2 years) than most felony crimes (e.g. depending on the sexual offence charged, could be up to 12 years).  I'm not sure any of the allegations made against Mr. Hopkins are alleged to have occurred within the past two years.

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5 minutes ago, Eleran said:

The PA statutes of limitation are much shorter on civil cases (generally 2 years) than most felony crimes (e.g. depending on the sexual offence charged, could be up to 12 years).  I'm not sure any of the allegations made against Mr. Hopkins are alleged to have occurred within the past two years.

Good point

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31 minutes ago, Eleran said:

The PA statutes of limitation are much shorter on civil cases (generally 2 years) than most felony crimes (e.g. depending on the sexual offence charged, could be up to 12 years).  I'm not sure any of the allegations made against Mr. Hopkins are alleged to have occurred within the past two years.

I am not a lawyer, so anything I am saying is speculation, but I would think two factors would come into play here. Sometimes if a new law is passed, a "from this point forward" type of clause is added which makes exceptions for cases which happened prior to the new law being passed, so what the law was  at the time of the incident could determine when a civil case is filed. A second thing to keep in mind is the laws in the state where something takes place which is where criminal and civil cases will take place. In Massachusetts, for most criminal cases there is a statute of limitations. If you are a resident of the Commonwealth and you commit crime x, the clock of the statute of limitations begins clicking when the alleged incident takes place. If you leave the state, the clock stops and you can be charged at any point. If you are visiting the state, as soon as you cross the boarder the clock stops. Every now and then someone from out of state gets stopped for a traffic violation and they are arrested for a warrant dating back in time and the expired statute of limitations does not matter because they left the state. 

Can exceptions be made? My guess would be that the intention of a law with such a short period of time for a civil case is to encourage victims to press criminal charges first rather than keep people from suing. I would also think in a state where Bill Cosby and Jerry Sandusky were found guilty and the state is still reeling from the Pennsylvania Grand Jury report, exceptions to this law may be forthcoming.

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21 minutes ago, Tim K said:

I am not a lawyer, so anything I am saying is speculation, but I would think two factors would come into play here. Sometimes if a new law is passed, a "from this point forward" type of clause is added which makes exceptions for cases which happened prior to the new law being passed, so what the law was  at the time of the incident could determine when a civil case is filed. A second thing to keep in mind is the laws in the state where something takes place which is where criminal and civil cases will take place. In Massachusetts, for most criminal cases there is a statute of limitations. If you are a resident of the Commonwealth and you commit crime x, the clock of the statute of limitations begins clicking when the alleged incident takes place. If you leave the state, the clock stops and you can be charged at any point. If you are visiting the state, as soon as you cross the boarder the clock stops. Every now and then someone from out of state gets stopped for a traffic violation and they are arrested for a warrant dating back in time and the expired statute of limitations does not matter because they left the state. 

Can exceptions be made? My guess would be that the intention of a law with such a short period of time for a civil case is to encourage victims to press criminal charges first rather than keep people from suing. I would also think in a state where Bill Cosby and Jerry Sandusky were found guilty and the state is still reeling from the Pennsylvania Grand Jury report, exceptions to this law may be forthcoming.

that would require the legislature to actually do their job

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