$30 Million Verdict Awarded in Sexual Abuse Case Against City of Newark & Newark Board of Education

NEWARK, NEW JERSEY – Yesterday, a jury awarded a $30 million verdict to a survivor of child sexual abuse in a case against the City of Newark and the Newark Board of Education. The Jury reached a decision in less than two hours, finding the City of Newark and the Newark Board of Education guilty for failing to prevent and report serial sexual abuse and child rape by John Cantalupo, a former Newark Board of Education after-school recreation aide at Ann Street School. The case was tried by Vincent Nappo, attorney at the law firm Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala PLLC (PCVA), and Matthew Bonnano of Rebenack Aronow Mascolo LLP (RAM). 

The plaintiff was routinely sexually abused and raped as a child, starting at age 10, from approximately 1991 to 1995. He began attending the afterschool program at his elementary school in Newark, New Jersey in the third grade overseen by the perpetrator, John Cantalupo, also known as “Mr. C.” Cantalupo began kissing and touching him, and eventually escalated the abuse to anally raping him.

The sexual abuse occurred multiple times a week throughout 3rd to 7th grade, with the perpetrator taking the victim to secluded areas of the school, giving him rides to and from the afterschool program, and raping him in his car. The plaintiff told Gene Foti, a teacher in the program that Cantalupo had been touching and kissing him, but this teacher failed to report or take any action to protect him, and the abuse continued for years. When the plaintiff was in 7th grade, Cantalupo committed suicide, after another boy reported to the police that Cantalupo was molesting him.

“We are thrilled for our client. The school district and the city failed him 35 years ago when they allowed one of the sickest pedophiles we have seen in our casework run an afterschool program for years with no oversight or supervision,” said Vincent Nappo, attorney at PCVA Law “Even after our client complained that Cantalupo was kissing and touching him, he was ignored. This program was a disaster waiting to happen.”

“This verdict represents the first step in our client’s healing. In 1991, our client turned to Gene Foti, a trusted teacher at Ann Street School, seeking help—but his pleas were ignored, and the abuse continued,” said Matthew Bonnano, attorney at RAM Law. “For the next 35 years, his voice went unheard. Today, we are grateful that the jury refused to let him be ignored any longer. This verdict is a significant step forward in the fight for justice for all survivors of childhood sexual abuse, and it would not have been possible without the courage and integrity of the eight jurors who rendered justice this case.”

Two years ago, in 2024, Nappo and Bonanno obtained a $25 Million verdict in Middlesex County on behalf of a woman who was sexually abused in foster care. In that case the jury found New Jersey’s Division of Child Protection and Permanency was 99% at fault.

Read the full verdict sheet here

Media coverage: Read more from: New York Times and NJ.com

About RAM Law & PCVA Law

Rebenack Aronow & Mascolo LLP (“RAM”) is a leading New Brunswick, Somerville, and Freehold, NJ firm specializing in personal injury and accident cases, holding an unwavering commitment to securing fair compensation for plaintiffs’ injuries. Attorneys from RAM and PCVA are thoroughly familiar with cases against the Catholic Church, Boy Scouts, Mormon Church, Big Brothers Big Sisters, private and public schools, and others, and how statute of limitations reform was implemented in other states. 

Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala PLLC (“PCVA”), one of the leading law firms in the United States fighting for the rights of sexual abuse survivors, represents hundreds of survivors who were sexually abused as children throughout the country. Over the course of more than two decades, PCVA’s nationally recognized attorneys have represented thousands of child and adult sexual abuse survivors in substantial and complex cases to help them obtain justice and hold institutions like the hospitals, the Catholic church, the Mormon church, the Boy Scouts of America, physicians, schools and community sports organizations, group and nursing homes, and foster care systems accountable and recover hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation for survivors.