Massage Therapist Sexual Abuse Lawyers in Maryland

When you treat yourself to a professional massage, you deserve a relaxing experience that’s good for your physical and mental health. Unfortunately, some massage therapists are unethical and take advantage of their clients, committing sexual misconduct during massage appointments. If this happened to you, you should get any medical or mental health treatment you need and then talk to a lawyer about your legal options.

Representing Survivors While Navigating Through the Civil Courts

The caring lawyers at Andreozzi + Foote have handled numerous cases for clients who were sexually assaulted by massage therapists. We aim to get sexual assault victims the compensation they deserve while ensuring the offenders are held accountable, so contact us to learn how initiating a civil lawsuit could benefit you.

Were You Sexually Abused by a Massage Therapist?

One of the most challenging aspects of massage spa sexual abuse cases is that victims don’t always know if their experience is considered sexual assault. After all, the typical massage therapy session requires you to be in a vulnerable position, as you must get undressed and lie down on a massage table while a massage therapist touches parts of your body.

This causes some sexual assault victims to second guess themselves as they wonder if the massage therapist was just doing their job, so they may feel conflicted about reporting the sexual abuse.

However, it’s important to listen to your gut feeling. If you felt uncomfortable or sexually violated in any way, the massage therapist likely committed sexual abuse against you, and you were probably not their first victim.

Though massage therapists are expected to abide by specific rules governing the massage business, some might take advantage of the fact that there’s no one in the room to supervise them, and first-time clients don’t always know the rules. In general, massage therapists are not supposed to do the following:

Touch private areas, such as the breasts and genitals
Massage the buttocks without client consent
Use sexual language
Make sexual noises during the massage
Watch clients undress
Rub the client’s body sexually
Insert objects or body parts into the client’s genitals
Force the client to engage in intercourse or other sexual acts
Perform the massage while the client’s genitals are visible rather than under a towel or sheet

If your massage therapist ignored any of these rules or made you feel sexually violated in any other way, you should talk to our lawyers to determine whether you should take legal action. Once you describe the situation to our legal team, we can advise you on your next steps, which might include bringing a civil lawsuit against the massage therapist and anyone else who could be held liable for the sexual assault you experienced. Call our law firm for a free consultation with skilled attorneys.

Who May Be Liable for Sexual Assault in the Massage Industry?

The massage therapist who sexually assaulted you should be held accountable for their actions. But in our experience handling cases like these, there are often a few responsible parties that enabled the sexual abuse, so you can pursue compensation from more than one person or organization.

When it comes to sexual assault involving massage therapy, we often find that our client was not the only victim to come forward. In many cases, sexual predators in the massage therapy industry are able to continue assaulting people because their coworkers and managers don’t take action when victims report the massage therapist’s offenses.

Spa employees might even cover up the crime committed by the massage therapist, either as a personal favor or to protect the business. This means they failed to protect their clients from devastating sexual violence, which is why they should be held liable through a civil lawsuit.

One example of holding massage therapists and their employers liable is the number of lawsuits against Massage Envy locations in recent years, including some in Maryland. In many of these cases, one or more victims reported sexual assault from at least one massage therapist at Massage Envy, but the company allowed the offenders to keep working there.

In some cases, the company simply moved the offender to a different Massage Envy location after management was told about the incident.

Rarely did Massage Envy discipline, fire, or report the abuser to local law enforcement, which means they enabled the abuse to continue. This is why many civil lawsuits name Massage Envy as a defendant rather than just the therapist who committed the crime.

If you were the target of sexual misconduct during a massage, we urge you to contact our lawyers to discuss who may be liable. In most cases, bringing a lawsuit against more than one person makes sense, especially if you reported the incident and feel that the massage spa ignored you and allowed the employee to keep working with clients.

If you’re considering seeking justice by filing a lawsuit, contact our law office to discuss your legal options with our caring attorneys so we can determine who to hold accountable in your massage spa sexual abuse case.

What Compensation Can You Get from a Civil Lawsuit?

Sexual assault survivors deserve to pursue justice through the legal system, and collecting fair compensation is part of that. While no amount of financial compensation will take away the mental, physical, and emotional consequences of inappropriate touching during a massage, being compensated after the devastating ordeal can ensure you have the time and money to get the help you need.

This is why your lawyer will likely work on getting you economic damages to pay for any therapy, medical care, or other expenses you’ve had since the sexual assault. You can also seek compensation for lost wages so you can take extra time off work if you need to process what happened to you during your massage.

You should not have to rush back to work or avoid getting the treatment you need to recover. Instead, make sure the people responsible for the assault pay for your expenses, since you wouldn’t have to pay these costs if they had done the right thing in the first place.

Your lawyer will likely also request monetary damages for your non-economic losses, such as pain and suffering and emotional distress. If you find it hard to enjoy life and have frequent panic attacks after being assaulted, let your lawyer know so they can seek damages to help compensate for these effects on your life.
Some massage therapist sexual assault cases also request punitive compensation.

This is meant to decrease the chances of the defendants hurting clients in the future, as the goal is to ensure they remember that they lost money by assaulting victims or enabling the assault to occur. This is why sexual assault survivors are advised to pursue justice by requesting as much compensation as possible, as it will benefit them while also possibly preventing future abuse.

How Can Massage Therapist Sexual Abuse Lawyers in Maryland Help?

We want survivors to feel comfortable explaining the circumstances of their assault to our caring lawyers. We have helped numerous clients get justice through the civil courts of Maryland, and we’d like to do the same for you so you can afford to take all the time you need to heal. When you come to us for guidance, we’ll start by listening to your account of what happened.

We will then provide you with local resources that are available to help sexual assault victims by offering information about how to find reputable counselors, the benefits of starting group therapy, and the importance of getting medical care after assault. Examples of such resources include:

Once you have the resources you need to begin the process of healing, we’ll explain your legal options to you so you know what to expect from your civil case. We want you to fully understand why pursuing compensation from anyone who failed to protect you as a massage therapy client is so important.

We also want to make sure you have the financial means to get the treatment you need after being sexually assaulted, as your recovery process could require you to take time off work and get ongoing therapy.

Our lawyers are committed to helping you through your case every step of the way, since you deserve to heal as much as possible after being hurt by someone else’s actions. If you’re ready to seek justice for the sexual abuse you endured during a massage, call us at 866-311-8640 to schedule an initial consultation with our compassionate legal professionals.