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The window to file overdue sexual assault claims in NY has closed. What’s next?
By
Samantha Max
Published Dec 3, 2023
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By
Samantha Max
Published Dec 3, 2023
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It’s been just over a week since a one-year window closed allowing people to bring sexual assault claims under the Adult Survivors Act that would typically have been too old to file — but lawmakers, attorneys and advocates are considering ways to allow people who missed the deadline to file lawsuits.
New York’s statute of limitations for civil lawsuits alleging some sex offenses, including rape and first-degree aggravated sexual abuse, is now 20 years. State legislators extended the time limit from five years in 2019. Another recent law opened a "lookback" window that began last fall and gave sexual assault victims who didn’t pursue litigation within the legal time limit a second chance to do so.
The window closed last Thursday and state data shows more than 3,800 civil claims were filed in courts across New York under the act.
State Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, who sponsored the legislation, said he is still speaking with other lawmakers, advocates and experts to assess what impact it had. And filing claims was just the beginning for the thousands of people who have filed civil claims and will likely spend months, if not years, litigating their cases.
Here are some possible next steps for survivors of sexual assault in New York:
Legal battles in court
For those who have already filed a civil claim through the Adult Survivors Act, this moment is like “mile three or four of a marathon,” said Adam P. Slater, an attorney with Slater Slater Schulman LLP, which filed about 1,800 sexual assault lawsuits under the state law.
Slater expects some cases will be resolved fairly quickly through settlement negotiations — with the extreme example being the agreement reached between musicians Sean “Diddy” Combs and Casandra “Cassie” Ventura just a day after Ventura sued the hip-hop artist. Other lawsuits could take years to wind their way through the courts, as both sides turn over evidence, interview witnesses and, in some cases, go to trial.
Many cases, Slater said, will land somewhere in the middle, with weeks or months of negotiations before a settlement is reached. He hopes the accused will try to reach settlements quickly and avoid protracted legal battles, to protect survivors of sexual assault from additional pain — especially in the more than 1,700 cases his firm has brought against state and local governments for alleged assaults in prisons and jails.
“I do hope that the state, city and counties do the right thing by these brave survivors and not make them go through the full litigation process and retraumatize them,” Slater said.
Some people accused under the Adult Survivors Act, however, have already vehemently denied the allegations against them, including Mayor Eric Adams, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state Sen. Kevin Parker. To hold someone liable for wrongdoing in a civil case, an accuser typically must prove by a “preponderance of evidence” that their allegations are true — in other words, more likely than not. While it’s common for both sides to decide to settle a case before it goes to trial, such settlements often don’t require the accused to admit that the allegations are true and do not necessarily prove wrongdoing.
New state legislation
Hoylman-Sigal said he’s seriously considering legislation that would give more time for people to bring sexual assault lawsuits — a proposal that many advocates and lawyers are supporting. That’s what happened with the Child Survivors Act, a similar state law that was initially slated to run for one year but was then extended for another.
The number of lawsuits filed under that law more than doubled in the second year, from 4,241 to 10,857, according to an analysis by the Sean P. McIlmail Statute of Limitations Research Institute. About 3,500 suits were brought in just the final month — almost the total number of claims filed under the Adult Survivors Act in the past 12 months, according to the latest tally from the state Office of Court Administration.
Hoylman-Sigal said he may propose an extension of the Adult Survivors Act during the next legislative session, which begins in January. He’s also considering an end to the statute of limitations for sexual assault lawsuits altogether.
“I wonder if we reopened the window or had a permanent window, if more cases would come forward,” Hoylman-Sigal said. “My guess is yes, we have not exhausted the list of survivors. And that's worrisome, because, from a public safety standpoint and from the perspective of the survivor, these statutes of limitations are rather artificial constructs.”
Attorney Alison Anderson, who represents victims of sexual abuse, said one year is hardly enough time to bring a sexual assault lawsuit. Not only does it take a long time for people to decide to take legal action, she said, but it also takes time to find an attorney and build a case.
“I think people may be under the misimpression that you can decide one day that you want to come forward and then file an action a week later,” Anderson said. “But that’s just not how it works.”
Anderson practices law in California, which has passed its own lookback window for sexual assault lawsuits that expires in December for most cases. She hopes other states will follow New York and California, and that they’ll provide even more time to bring civil claims.
“Victims are left with nowhere to go, because it’s only certain states,” she said.
Systemic accountability
Many lawsuits filed under the Adult Survivors Act have named government agencies, corporations and other powerful entities, including the NYPD, the city and state departments of correction and local hospital systems.
Boies Schiller Flexner attorney Kenya Davis, who represented plaintiffs in sex abuse cases against L.A. Reid and the U.S. Ski and Snowboard team, said the flurry of lawsuits could prompt companies and agencies to hire monitors who can look out for sexual misconduct and help to implement preventive measures. She said legal action could also lead to better reporting mechanisms for victims.
The state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, which is facing many allegations of sexual abuse within its prisons, declined to comment on pending litigation but said it has recently updated its policies and launched a training that encourages employees to intervene when they suspect abuse. The city Department of Correction, which has also been sued under the Adult Survivors Act, said it has a “zero tolerance policy” for sexual abuse and investigates all allegations of sexual misconduct.
Another path in New York City
Some survivors of sexual assault who didn’t file lawsuits under the Adult Survivor Act may be able to bring litigation under a similar city law, the Gender-Motivated Violence Act (also called the Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Law).
In 2021, the City Council passed a bill that gives people an extra two years to file a civil lawsuit against someone who they say committed violence against them because of their gender. The statute of limitations for those types of lawsuits is typically seven or nine years, depending on the impact of the violent act and the victim’s age.
The deadline to file litigation under that law is March 2025.
Not everyone who was eligible for the Adult Survivors Act is eligible under the city law, given that its focus on gender-motivated violence. On the other hand, some people who wouldn’t have been able to file a lawsuit under the state law would be able to under the city law, such as someone who was attacked because of their gender but not sexually assaulted.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated which cases attorney Kenya Davis worked on.
Jessy Edwards contributed reporting.
Tagged
public safety
new york state
Samantha Max
Samantha reports on whether New Yorkers feel safe and whether the institutions that are supposed to protect them are working. Before coming to WNYC/Gothamist, she spent three years covering the criminal justice system in Tennessee for Nashville Public Radio. Her reporting on Nashville's police department received multiple awards, including the Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize. Samantha was also part of the inaugural class of Report for America, a service journalism program that sends up-and-coming reporters to local newsrooms across the country. She is a Northwestern University grad, a Baltimore native and fluent in Spanish. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal: samanthamaxwnyc.93.
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