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If you believe you were abused during a visit to a massage clinic in Hawaii, you are probably right. Although your accusations may fall on deaf ears, you are fully within your rights to consider legal action. An experienced massage abuse attorney in Hawaii can listen carefully and respectfully to your side of the story. After gathering more information about your situation, your lawyer can help you pursue compensation, justice, and closure. When can you file a massage abuse lawsuit in Hawaii? How do you prove massage abuse in Hawaii? How much will you receive after a successful massage abuse lawsuit? Although online research can answer many of these questions, a consultation with an experienced lawyer may be far more informative.
How Can a Massage Abuse Attorney in Hawaii Help?
Your massage abuse attorney in Hawaii can help you determine who might be liable for the trauma you have been forced to endure. Suing the specific therapists who touched you inappropriately may seem like the obvious option, and you can certainly name them as a defendant. However, you might also want to sue the company that hired the therapist. This strategy can help you recover more compensation, as a nationwide or statewide massage company is capable of paying out a higher sum compared to a solitary individual.
For example, a single massage therapist may have no real assets to speak of besides their vehicle and the clothes on their back. They might even be struggling with serious levels of credit card debt. This type of individual cannot possibly cover the damages you have incurred. In contrast, the popular massage franchise Massage Envy rakes in almost $1 billion per year in revenue. Clearly, a corporation of this type is far more capable of covering your damages.
The massage company connected with your abuse may have contributed to your damages in very real ways. For example, they may have hired a known sex offender. Perhaps numerous customers complained about being abused by this specific therapist, and the company failed to terminate them. These kinds of situations make massage companies fully liable for the harm you have endured. As a result, you are fully entitled to pursue legal action against them.
What are the Laws Against Massage Abuse in Hawaii?
If you were touched in a way that seemed inappropriate, you have probably experienced massage abuse. There are many laws in Hawaii that prohibit this kind of abuse. Your case will revolve around consent laws, massage regulations, and specific Hawaii state rules regarding massage therapy. You can find many of these laws under Title 16 of Hawaii’s Administrative Rules.
Consider Hawaii’s consent laws regarding medical or therapeutic treatments. In this situation, massage therapists are held to a higher standard than normal people. This is because when you book an appointment with a massage therapist, you trust them to touch your body in a professional manner. If a medical professional uses their position to abuse this trust, they can face serious consequences. This is true regardless of whether you gave them consent to touch you.
In other words, massage clinics and therapists cannot escape consequences just because you consented to physical touching. Hawaii also makes it illegal to sexually abuse someone through trickery or deception, even if the victim consents.
Under Title 16 of Hawaii’s Administrative Rules, the Rainbow State holds massage clinics accountable for sexual or abusive acts on the premises. This provides you with a pathway to legal action if you experience any sexual, lewd, or inappropriate conduct at a massage clinic.
Finally, national massage licensing organizations have very strict rules of conduct. Although violating these rules may not result in any criminal charges, clinics and therapists may nonetheless lose their licenses if certain allegations come to light. Furthermore, a clinic or therapist can be held liable in civil courts for violating their own written policies. Many of these rules of conduct strictly forbid any touching of certain areas, such as the groin or breasts.
What Kind of Damages Can You Claim in a Massage Abuse Lawsuit?
You can claim numerous damages in a massage abuse lawsuit. First of all, the defendant should cover all of your various economic damages. As the name implies, these damages involve your financial losses. Examples include medical expenses and missed wages. You may have booked appointments with a mental health counselor or a psychiatrist after the incident. Perhaps you were forced to miss weeks or months of work due to emotional distress, depression, and a sense of shame. You can recover all of these damages in a massage abuse lawsuit.
You can also claim non-economic damages. These are emotional or psychological issues, and they may increase the value of your total settlement by a considerable margin. Many survivors of massage abuse struggle with depression, anxiety, social withdrawal, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and a range of other issues. The emotional distress associated with these incidents can be incredibly severe, and plaintiffs may never truly recover from their psychological scars.
An experienced lawyer can help you prove the legitimacy of your non-economic damages. You may receive an official diagnosis from a mental health professional after the incident, and this may help you establish how serious your issues have become. For example, a psychologist might diagnose you with PTSD or anxiety disorder. You can present these medical records in court as evidence. You might also keep a journal of your feelings and struggles after the abuse, and you can present these journal entries in court to prove the legitimacy of your non-economic damages.
Contact Mary Alexander & Associates Today
If you are serious about pursuing legal action, speak with a Hawaii massage abuse attorney right away. At Mary Alexander & Associates, we are committed to assisting plaintiffs who have experienced unacceptable levels of abuse in Hawaii massage clinics. Our track record of successful verdicts and settlements speaks for itself. Contact us today to learn more about your legal options. During an initial consultation, we can discuss your unique situation in a respectful, dignified manner. Reach out now to take decisive legal action.
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