On September 26, 2025, partners John Baldante and Gabriel Magee were quoted in the Law360 article “No Immunity For Schools in Abuse Cases, NJ Justices Hear.” The article discusses our argument that the Legislature’s landmark enactment of the Child Victims Act exposes a public entity to vicarious liability for an employee’s act of child sexual abuse.
In the article, Magee cites the New Jersey Supreme Court’s 2006 ruling in Hardwicke v. American Boychoir School, stating that entities could be held vicariously liable for child sexual abuse committed by employees when the abuser utilized either apparent authority or aided by agency to effectuate the abuse.
“Clearly and unambiguously, that removes any immunity from a vicarious liability that a public entity had, a public entity previously enjoyed,” Magee said, in arguing that the Appellate Division had misunderstood both the text and intent of the Child Victims Act, “If the Appellate Division had followed that opinion, we wouldn’t be here today.”
Baldante confirms that the “validity of Hardwicke” was not the correct issue that should have been brought up before the court. “Now I understand that the court has the right and discretion to decide how to implement Hardwicke and modify it if it so wishes,” he stated. “But the only real issue that was ever brought up on appeal… is can plaintiffs bring a claim for vicarious liability under the [New Jersey] Tort Claims Act for the willful or wanton act of child sexual abuse by a public agent.”
To learn more about how this recent finding may affect child sex abuse cases going forward, please read the following Law360 article.