r/Ask_Lawyers • u/Mad__Lib • 13h ago
Cannot find an attorney after being attacked and SA'd while working
Location: Oregon
I'm not asking for legal advice, just general information as to finding an appropriate personal injury attorney. My civil case that I am trying to pursue includes premises liability/insurance, sexual assault, employment and other things as well. I have reached out to a handful of attorneys and they all keep referring me to the next who refers me to the next. I have a very hard time believing that it is not a worthy case but I'm just struggling to find an attorney who I guess feels like they are specialized enough or something? I'm not sure, the paralegal or legal secretaries never seem to have insight as to why the firm is not interested.
Bit of background: I am a process server, I was serving a commercial eviction on a car lot. The landlord/real estate broker was supposed to meet me at the front of the lot to unlock the padlock fence so I could serve the notice. He instead told me that he was there earlier in the day and I can just enter through a hole in the fence. I did so and was attacked by a man claiming to be the owner. I now know that he was not the owner but I believe he was given permission by the owner to sort of live in an RV onsite as maybe a groundskeeper or guard or even mechanic (he is a mechanic). Anyway, once in the lot, it was more like a junkyard than an auto lot. It was a death trap. The man attacked me, dragged me to a more secluded spot, pinned me between cars. I stabbed him twice, we fought for the knife. He eventually took control of the knife, tried to unalive me and after begging for my life, he sexually assaulted me. I escaped as he was pulling up his pants.
I am pursuing a civil case against the landlord/broker who told me to go in through the hole in the fence. If I find out that the car lot owner really did authorize my attacker to be on-site, then that might be something to pursue as well.
As you can see, there are a lot of things going on here. I have sued and won a few civil cases in my life for other types of issues and have never ever had so much trouble getting legal representation. Does anyone have any direction to share with me as to which specialty I might pursue in regards to the type of attorney/firm?