Kidder v. Hanes

DECISION AND ORDER I. Introduction In this removed diversity action, Plaintiff Jeffrey Kidder (a Colorado resident) sues the Hanes (currently residents of Iowa) (see Docket No. 1, Notice of Removal

4-5, 7-8) for torts that occurred to Kidder in New York and Pennsylvania (Docket No. 1, Notice of Removal, Ex. A, State Compl. at 1, or “Compl.”). Kidder seeks damages for suffering sexual abuse at the hands of Defendant Dennis Hanes (“Dennis”) in the 1970s during Kidder’s youth. Kidder claims that Dennis, a pedophile and ephebophile¹, encouraged Kidder to join him on trips in Pennsylvania and New York between April 1972 and July 1974 where Dennis allegedly assaulted Kidder and injured him (Docket No. 1, Notice of Removal, Ex. A, State Compl., or “Compl.”). New York’s Child Victims Act, 2019 N.Y. Sess. Laws ch. 11, §3, revives tort claims of juvenile sexual abuse victims, N.Y. CPLR 214-g, but (pertinent here) only claims of nonresidents that occurred in New York, S.H. v. Diocese of Brooklyn, 205 A.D.3d 180, 167 N.Y.S.3d 171 (2d Dep’t 2022) (Docket No. 18, Defs. Supp’al Auth.). Before this Court is Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss or for Judgment on the Pleadings (Docket No. 10²) on statute of limitations grounds. The issues here are the choice of law on limitations period, the applicability of New York statute of limitations (including the Child Victims Act) to claims that occurred in this state and in Pennsylvania, and whether claims are time barred or revived. For the following reasons, Defendants’ Motion is granted in part, denied in part, with this Court retaining certain battery claims that allegedly occurred in New York. Plaintiff is ordered to amend the Complaint consistent with this Decision. II. Background This Court assumes the truth of the following factual allegations contained in Kidder’s Complaint. See Hospital Bldg. Co. v. Trustees of Rex Hosp., 425 U.S. 738, 740, 98 S.Ct. 1848, 48 L.Ed.2d 338 (1976). A. Factual Allegations Kidder, then a resident of Erie, Pennsylvania, alleges that his uncle Dennis Hanes abused him from 1972-74 in Pennsylvania and the Southern Tier of New York (Compl.