Jeffrey Marc "Jeff" Herman (born 1959) is an American trial lawyer who specializes in representing victims of
sexual abuse
Sexual abuse or sex abuse, also referred to as molestation, is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using force or by taking advantage of another. Molestation often refers to an instance of sexual assa ...
, and has been described as a "
p church sex abuse attorney".
He is the founding and managing partner of the
South Florida
South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of th ...
-based firm Herman Law, and has been described in the media as "the nation's leading attorney when it comes to handling high-profile sexual abuse lawsuits".
Herman gained substantial publicity for bringing cases against alleged sexual predators and institutions that protect them.
He has been featured in ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', ''
USA Today
''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...
'', ''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
'', ''
People
A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...
'', and ''
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
'' magazine and is a contributor to ''
The O'Reilly Factor
''The O'Reilly Factor'' (originally titled ''The O'Reilly Report'' and also known as ''The Factor'') is an American cable television news and talk show. ''The O'Reilly Factor'' first aired in the United States on Fox News Channel on October 7 ...
'',
MSNBC
MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and political ...
, and
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...
.
He is best known for exposing the clergy
sexual abuse scandal in the Archdiocese of Miami and the
Archdiocese of Denver
The Archdiocese of Denver ( la, Archidiœcesis Denveriensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Catholic Church that encompasses northern Colorado. It is part of the XIII Conference Region and includes 113 parishes, 3 ...
,
Herman is also noted for his landmark $100 million verdict on behalf of a client who was sexually abused by Rev. Neil Doherty, one of the largest verdicts ever against an individual priest.
He has also represented clients against public figures, including financier
Jeffrey Epstein
Jeffrey Edward Epstein ( ; January 20, 1953August 10, 2019) was an American sex offender and financier. Epstein, who was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City, began his professional life by teaching at the Dalton School in Manhattan, des ...
, puppeteer
Kevin Clash
Kevin Jeffrey Clash (born September 17, 1960) is an American puppeteer, director and producer known for puppeteering Elmo on ''Sesame Street'' from 1984 to 2012. He also performed puppets for ''Labyrinth'', '' Dinosaurs'', '' Oobi'', and various ...
, and director
Bryan Singer
Bryan Jay Singer (born September 17, 1965) is an American filmmaker. He is the founder of Bad Hat Harry Productions and has produced almost all of the films he has directed.
After graduating from the University of Southern California, Singer d ...
.
By 2015, Herman stated that he had litigated more than 800 cases in the field.
Early life, education, and career
Born and raised in
Youngstown, Ohio
Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio, and the largest city and county seat of Mahoning County, Ohio, Mahoning County. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Youngstown had a city population of 60,068. It is a principal city of ...
, Herman attended the
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory.
T ...
,
and received a
J.D. from
Case Western Reserve University School of Law
Case Western Reserve University School of Law is one of eight schools at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. It was one of the first schools accredited by the American Bar Association. It is a member of the Association of American ...
in 1985, where he was on the editorial board of the ''Canada-United States Law Journal''. He began practicing law in Florida in 1985, and "was a successful commercial lawyer before he shifted exclusively to sexual-abuse".
In one case during this period, in 1995, Herman successfully represented Robin Elkins, a saxophonist who had patented a means of storing and retrieving bits of sound on a computer, a technology that led to electronic
voice mail
A voicemail system (also known as voice message or voice bank) is a computer-based system that allows users and subscribers to exchange personal voice messages; to select and deliver voice information; and to process transactions relating to ind ...
.
Sexual abuse cases
Cases in religious and educational settings
Herman's specialization in sexual abuse cases began with a 1997 case against
Nova Southeastern University
Nova Southeastern University (NSU or, informally, Nova) is a private nonprofit research university with its main campus in Davie, Florida. The university consists of 14 total colleges, centers, and schools offering over 150 programs of study. ...
, which has failed to conduct a
background check
A background check is a process a person or company uses to verify that an individual is who they claim to be, and this provides an opportunity to check and confirm the validity of someone's criminal record, education, employment history, and oth ...
on a convicted child sex offender who had volunteered for a program run by the school, and who had molested an autistic child there.
Herman credited the shift to a search for meaning that has been fulfilled by seeking justice for victims of abuse.
Herman first gained national attention in this field representing victims of clergy sexual abuse in over 100 cases against the
Archdiocese of Miami
The Archdiocese of Miami ( la, Archidioecesis Miamiensis, es, Arquidiócesis de Miami, ht, Achidyosèz Miami) is a particular church of the Catholic Church in the United States of America. Its ecclesiastical territory consists of Broward County, ...
. In 2003, he represented the victim in the first sexual abuse lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Miami allowed to go to trial.
For years, the Catholic Church was able to have sexual abuse cases dismissed on
statute of limitations
A statute of limitations, known in civil law systems as a prescriptive period, is a law passed by a legislative body to set the maximum time after an event within which legal proceedings may be initiated. ("Time for commencing proceedings") In m ...
technicalities. Herman became one of the first attorneys to successfully defeat this strategy- arguing that the archdiocese committed fraud by keeping a priest's sexual abuse history secret.
In 2004, Herman represented the victims of Rev. Alvaro Guichard, a Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing four children in the 1970s. Guichard unexpectedly crashed a news conference held by Herman and the family of one of Guichard's deceased victims following the filing of the lawsuit.
The priest confronted the family, calling them liars and while grabbing the brother of the victim's arm. Herman was able to pull Guichard off of the brother just before police arrived on the scene. Following the incident, Guichard filed a suit against Herman, claiming he defamed him when he accused him of rape and sodomy.
In 2012, the defamation suit was dismissed by the Miami-Dade Circuit Court.
In the early 2000s, Herman tried his first cases regarding abuse of
Native Americans under the authority of a Catholic diocese. It was reported at the time that "Herman is known nationally as a plaintiff's lawyer in clergy sexual abuse cases, but his reputation in Indian law circles is less established". In 2006, Herman represented an alleged victim of Anthony Mercieca, the priest accused of molesting U.S. congressman
Mark Foley
Mark Adam Foley (born September 8, 1954) is an American former politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives. He served from 1995 until 2006, representing the 16th District of Florida as a member of the Republic ...
. The lawsuit alleged that Mercieca fondled and performed oral sex on the victim, who was a 13-year-old altar boy at St. James Church in North Miami. The suit sought $10 million in damages and settled in 2007 for an undisclosed amount.
That same year, Herman represented the victims of Rabbi Joel Kolko, who was accused of molesting multiple young students of his yeshiva. The case was the first lawsuit against a Jewish leader to be filed following the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal.
In 2007, Herman represented the alleged victim of Don Walk, the former Miami Dolphins team chaplain. Walk allegedly took the boy to Dolphins games, introduced him to players, and brought him to the house of coach Don Shula while grooming the boy for abuse.
In 2011, Herman won a $100 million verdict for a victim of Father Neil Doherty, a priest of the Archdiocese of Miami accused of drugging and raping church youths. The result was the nation's largest jury verdict for a sexual abuse case in 2011 and one of the year's top 20 verdicts overall.
Herman – along with attorneys Adam Horowitz and Arick Fudali – won a $3 million jury verdict on behalf of a young girl who was sexually abused at Discovery Day Care in 2012.
Testimony showed that the preschooler was abused on multiple occasions by the daycare director's 13-year-old son and that a center employee falsified documents related to the incident.
In 2014, Herman won a $5.25 million verdict for a boy in a sexual abuse lawsuit against Charter Schools USA. The verdict is believed to be among the highest ever in a charter school sexual abuse case.
[David Smiley]
"Jury awards $5.25 million to boy in Downtown Miami Charter School sex assault case"
''Miami Herald'', 2014-04-15
In 2019, Herman represented New York clergy sex abuse victims in a lawsuit against the
Vatican
Vatican may refer to:
Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum
The Holy See
* The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...
and
Pope Francis
Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...
, contending negligence in addressing misconduct within the priesthood.
Celebrity cases
Herman represented several teenage victims of financier
Jeffrey Epstein
Jeffrey Edward Epstein ( ; January 20, 1953August 10, 2019) was an American sex offender and financier. Epstein, who was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City, began his professional life by teaching at the Dalton School in Manhattan, des ...
in 2008. Epstein was convicted of felony solicitation of prostitution and procuring a person under the age of 18 for prostitution. Herman filed a civil suit alleging that the victims were as young as 14 years old when they were brought to Epstein's mansion to perform erotic massages. The suit sought $50 million in damages and eventually settled for an undisclosed amount.
Throughout 2012 and 2013, Herman represented five alleged victims of
Elmo
Elmo is a red Muppet monster character on the long-running PBS/ HBO children's television show ''Sesame Street''. A furry red monster who has a falsetto voice and illeism, he hosts the last full five-minute segment (fifteen minutes prio ...
puppeteer,
Kevin Clash
Kevin Jeffrey Clash (born September 17, 1960) is an American puppeteer, director and producer known for puppeteering Elmo on ''Sesame Street'' from 1984 to 2012. He also performed puppets for ''Labyrinth'', '' Dinosaurs'', '' Oobi'', and various ...
.
On November 20, 2012, Herman filed a lawsuit alleging that Clash sexually abused a 15-year-old boy he met on a gay phone chatline. Clash publicly resigned from ''
Sesame Street
''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...
'' later that day.
While discussing the sexual abuse lawsuits he filed against Clash, Herman told ''
The Baltimore Sun
''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries.
Founded in 1837, it is currently owned by Tr ...
'' it has been his goal to "listen to sexual abuse victims and give them a voice".
Herman also filed lawsuits on behalf of two plaintiffs against
''X-Men'' director,
Bryan Singer
Bryan Jay Singer (born September 17, 1965) is an American filmmaker. He is the founder of Bad Hat Harry Productions and has produced almost all of the films he has directed.
After graduating from the University of Southern California, Singer d ...
, the first in 2014,
and the second in 2017. The plaintiff in the first case, Michael Egan, was a former child model and actor who accused Singer of repeatedly drugging, threatening and forcibly sodomizing him in the late 1990s, beginning when the boy was 15 years old.
"Hollywood has a problem with the sexual exploitation of children. This is the first of many cases I will be filing to give these victims a voice and to expose the issue", Herman said in a statement shortly after filing.
Herman filed another series of lawsuits against three more Hollywood executives: former Fox television executive
Garth Ancier
Garth Ancier (born September 3, 1957, in Perth Amboy, New Jersey) is an American television producer and media executive.
Early life
Ancier graduated from the Lawrenceville School in 1975 and Princeton University in 1979.
He began his broadca ...
, theater producer Gary Wayne Goddard and former television executive David A. Neuman. However, within months all four lawsuits were dropped after Egan's stories continued to change and the cases began to fall apart.
Herman withdrew from representing Egan, and he and another former attorney of Egan's, Mark Gallagher, wrote letters of apology to Ancier and Neuman. Herman's letter stated that he had learned that he had "participated in making what I now know to be untrue and proveably false allegations"; accompanying the letters were an undisclosed seven-figure sum.
The following year, Egan was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to unrelated fraud charges.
The plaintiff in the second case, Cesar Sanchez-Guzman, filed a lawsuit in
the state of Washington against Singer, alleging that he had been raped at age 17 by the director in 2003. Singer denied the allegations and removed himself from the public eye. In June 2019, Singer agreed to pay $150,000 to settle the case, which was approved by Sanchez-Guzman's bankruptcy trustee Nancy James, citing the absence of evidence that Singer attended the yacht party where the alleged assault took place. Singer's attorney Andrew Brettler said that Singer has maintained his innocence and that the "decision to resolve the matter with the bankruptcy trustee was purely a business one".
In 2015, Herman wrote an op-ed piece for Reuters about bringing down powerful men accused of rape. In the piece, he said the role of the internet in sexual abuse cases is changing and it can play a positive, equalizing role enabling victims to come forward and speak up in support of others.
Controversies
In 2012, Herman's pursuit of a case against a rabbi stirred controversy, with participants in various internet forums asserting that Herman, as an observant Jew, was "bringing unwarranted shame on the Orthodox community".
Advocates for various defendants sued by clients represented by Herman have complained that Herman has sought personal publicity through his cases. In 2012, the Archdiocese of Miami criticized press conferences held by Herman as not providing the full truth to the news media.
In 2015, Bryan Singer's attorney criticized Herman for holding a press conference regarding that case, accusing Herman of "seeking to get his 15 minutes of fame" and saying "Attorneys who try cases don't hold press conferences".
Entertainment lawyer
Jonathan Handel, who wrote a number of articles about Singer, wrote in a 2017 piece in ''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'' that Herman was disciplined for two incidents of misconduct involving dishonesty,
including a 1998 incident in which an Oregon District Court had reportedly barred Herman permanently from his courtroom following findings of alleged misrepresentations and dishonesty.
Handel further wrote that, also in 1998, Herman had been accused of sexual battery by his then 19-year-old receptionist, who had accompanied Herman back to his apartment while Herman was separated from his wife.
Handel reported that the police had referred that case to the District Attorney, and it was thereafter dropped for
insufficient evidence
In a legal dispute, one party has the burden of proof to show that they are correct, while the other party had no such burden and is presumed to be correct. The burden of proof requires a party to produce evidence to establish the truth of facts ...
.
Handel also wrote that between 2014 and 2017, Herman was the debtor in four federal tax liens (from $210,000 to over $900,000), and that two major banks had also filed claims against the attorney for credit due, and
foreclosure
Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the collateral for the loan.
Formally, a mortg ...
.
Recognition
In 2013, Jeff Herman was named "Child Advocate of the Year" by KidSafe Foundation during their 4th Annual Fundraiser.
In reporting the award, the ''Observer'' noted that Herman has been "recognized for his unique child forensic interviewing technique, and he trains professionals from various child welfare organizations on how to help sexually abused children heal through disclosure".
He has been referred to in the media as the "Dark Knight", fighting for the most vulnerable victims. Herman has also been referred to as the "legal eagle" and the "Go-To-Guy" for sexual abuse lawsuits.
While on MSNBC discussing the
Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal, Herman coined the term "pedophile speak", describing the way pedophiles talk about and justify abusing children. While discussing the sexual abuse lawsuits he filed against Kevin Clash, Herman told ''
The Baltimore Sun
''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries.
Founded in 1837, it is currently owned by Tr ...
'' it has been his goal to "listen to sexual abuse victims and give them a voice".
In an op-ed piece for Reuters about bringing down powerful men accused of rape, Herman said the role of the internet in sexual abuse cases is changing and it can play a positive, equalizing role enabling victims to come forward and speak up in support of others.
Personal life
Herman is a practicing Jew and father of four.
In 2008, the ''
Miami Herald
The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a List of communities in Miami-Dade County, Florida, city in western Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County and the M ...
'' profiled Herman and reported on his greatest weakness: red meat.
He has a favorite steakhouse in every city, never deviating from his order of a medium rare New York strip and a side salad.
Herman is also an avid collector of wine and single malt scotch.
References
External links
Jeff Herman ProfileKidSafe Foundation*
Hermanon ''
The Ed Show
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
''
Hermanon ''
Nancy Grace
Nancy Ann Grace (born October 23, 1959) is an American legal commentator and television journalist. She hosted ''Nancy Grace'', a nightly celebrity news and current affairs show on HLN, from 2005 to 2016, and Court TV's ''Closing Arguments' ...
''
''Idea Mench'' interview with Jeff Herman(2018)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Herman, Jeff
1959 births
American lawyers
Living people
People from Youngstown, Ohio
University of Arizona alumni
Case Western Reserve University School of Law alumni