Alleged Victim of Childhood Sexual Abuse Files Civil Lawsuit Against Brooklyn

Friends School

Allegedly, Victim Claims That School Janitor Sexually Assaulted Her When She Was a Student at
Brooklyn Friends School.

New York, NY, October 06, 2019 --(PR.com)-- A New York City resident who allegedly attended the
Brooklyn Friends School as a child has filed a sexual abuse civil lawsuit against the school, alleging it
failed to prevent her from being repeatedly abused by a janitor.

The suit, filed by the Zalkin Law Firm and Barasch McGarry Salzman & Penson in Kings County
Supreme Court in Brooklyn pursuant to New York's Child Victims Act, named as defendants the School,
its Board of Trustees and The Brooklyn and New York Meeting organizations.

The Plaintiff, Amala Muhammed Redd, now age 47, allegedly attended Brooklyn Friends School from
1979 to 1990, when she graduated. The Brooklyn Friends is an independent, college preparatory Quaker
school with more than 900 students and a tuition rate of $45,400 annually for grades 3 to 12, according to
the school's website.

The complaint alleges that during second and third grade, Amala was repeatedly sexually abused by a
school janitor. Allegedly, the sexual abuse of Amala by the janitor included, but was not limited to,
openly kissing Plaintiff on school grounds, oral sex and an alleged rape of the Plaintiff at the Brooklyn
Friends School. The Plaintiff alleges in the lawsuit that this abuse occurred over the course of several
months between second and third grade.

The complaint alleges Amala's third grade teacher and her gym teacher allowed the janitor on many
occasions to come into their class and remove Amala from class, facilitating the on-going sexual abuse.

“It is inexcusable, that teachers would allow a janitor to remove a child from their class repeatedly and
not do anything about that,” said attorney Irwin Zalkin. “Schools, especially prestigious private schools
like Brooklyn Friends, should be a safe environment for all students. Allegedly, The Friends School failed
in its duty to protect Amala from this sexual predator and did nothing to educate and train their employees
about protecting students from sexual abuse and harassment.”

The lawsuit alleges that as a child around the third grade, Amala began hurting herself by biting her lips
until they bled and banging her arms against walls to cause injury in order to get herself excused from
gym class to avoid contact with the janitor. The Complaint alleges that none of her teachers nor school
administration protected her or reacted to these childhood displays of distress. The Complaint goes on to
allege: following this long period of abuse, a teacher in the school discovered the janitor in the act of
abusing Amala and then took Amala to the school's office; the school then called Amala's mother and the
police.

The lawsuit alleges three Causes of Action against the Defendants; Negligence, Negligent Retention,

Page 1/3
PR.com Press Release Distribution Terms of Use
Negligent Failure to Train Teachers and Administrators. The complaint alleges that Brooklyn Friends
School and other Defendants were negligent in their legal duty to protect the Plaintiff from the alleged
abuse by allowing easy access to a minor child by an unsupervised employee, in this case the janitor. The
Complaint also alleges a complete absence of any training for teachers, staff and administrators and
failure to establish policies and procedures to detect, prevent and address inappropriate employee
behavior including employee-student boundary violations, sexually inappropriate employee behavior and
conduct.

Allegedly, as a result of the sexual abuse outlined in the complaint, the Plaintiff claims severe and
sustained emotional and psychological injuries of a permanent and lasting nature. The complaint asks for
compensatory and punitive damages and costs.

About The Zalkin Law Firm

With offices in San Diego, CA and New York, NY, the firm's lawyers have represented hundreds of
survivors of sexual abuse and sexual assault and achieved results in numerous high-profile sexual abuse
and assault cases across the United States. The Zalkin Law Firm has aggressively represented survivors
who suffered child sexual abuse and sexual assault while members of religious and other organizations,
including the Catholic Church, Jehovah's Witnesses, foster care, Boy Scouts, recovery homes, foreign
student exchange programs, colleges. Irwin Zalkin was appointed a lead negotiator by United States
Magistrate Judge Leo S. Papas on behalf of over 144 victims of childhood sexual abuse against the
Roman Catholic Bishop of San Diego. These negotiations resulted in a global settlement of almost
$200,000,000. He also was one of the lead trial lawyers and part of the trial team against the Roman
Catholic Archbishop of Los Angeles where a global settlement was reached in the amount of
$660,000,000.

For more information, visit: www.zalkin.com

About Barasch McGarry Salzman & Penson

Barasch McGarry Salzman & Penson is a nationally known personal injury law firm, located in New
York, with lawyers who concentrate in catastrophic injury and wrongful death cases arising out of auto
accidents, construction accidents, plane, train and motorcycle accidents, and any other case where a
serious personal injury was caused by someone's negligence. Many of our clients are NYC firefighters
who were injured in the line of duty. We also represent thousands of sick first responders and local
residents who are survivors of the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks. For more than 100 collective years,
the personal injury attorneys at the New York law firm of Barasch McGarry Salzman & Penson have
been seeking justice for victims of personal injury and wrongful death throughout New York and the
United States.

For more information, visit: https://www.personalinjuryjustice.com

Page 2/3
PR.com Press Release Distribution Terms of Use
Contact Information:
The Zalkin Law Firm
Irwin Zalkin
858-259-3011
Contact via Email
zalkin.com

Online Version of Press Release:

You can read the online version of this press release at: https://www.pr.com/press-release/796265

News Image:

Page 3/3
PR.com Press Release Distribution Terms of Use