In August, the New York Courts’ Chief Administrative Judge Hon. Lawrence K. Marks announced that NY courts would take the unusual step of developing standard case management and fast-tracking for sex abuse claims revived by CPLR §214-g (the NY State Child Victims Act) (NYCVA). NYCVA, which Gov. Andrew Cuomo had signed into law on Feb. 14, 2019, opened a one-year-long window beginning August 14th for sex abuse victims to file otherwise time-barred claims against perpetrators, employers, supervisors and others.
NYCVA exposes educational, religious, medical, and other defendants to tens of millions of dollars in liability and defense. The day NYCVA’s window opened, more than 439 NYCVA claims were reportedly filed. The bigger picture is just as dramatic: The Catholic Archdiocese of New York stated in a June 2019 coverage complaint (discussed in this article) that, through its “Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program,” 323 claimants had received approximately $65 million in compensation; when the Diocese of Rochester [New York] filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month, it specifically referenced NYCVA in estimating liabilities between $100 and $500 million; and news reports cited one NYCVA plaintiffs’ lawyer to say he expected between 150 and 200 NYCVA suits would be filed against the Rochester diocese alone before the window closes in August 2020.
