He New York State has launched different fronts of struggle to put an end to abuse and sexual assaults, and in order to do justice to hundreds of victims who in the past, before these crimes gained the strength they currently have in the eyes of the authorities, New York approved a special regulation, called Adult Survivors Actwhich allowed lawsuits to be filed even when the stated events occurred a long time ago.
The legislative piece helped all types of alleged victims of sexual assault, not only famous personalities such as former President Donald Trump, but ordinary people and even inmates in jails and penitentiaries, be able to file legal actions for sexual behavior inappropriate, but this Thursday, just after Thanksgiving, it will expire.
According to court data, the law allowed the presentation of more than 2,500 lawsuits not only against individuals but also against municipal and state institutions and agencies, because it lifted the deadline to sue for an alleged sexual assault.
The legislation, which was signed by the State Governor, Kathy Hochullast year, allowed according to several victims, not only for their voices and stories to be heard but for them to have a little justice.
It is estimated that at least half of the complaints filed were filed by inmates who were in the custody of state or prison authorities, but after Thursday, victims of events that occurred long ago will not be able to file legal actions against their alleged attackers.
Liz Roberts, CEO of Safe Horizon, He assured that the law allowed many victims to manage their trauma and go out to sue their attackers.
“The reason we fought so hard for this bill is because trauma takes time,” Roberts said.
Although the number of lawsuits has been close to 2,500, It is estimated that the number of alleged victims is higher, since several legal actions filed with the law, inspired by another previous norm that allowed those who suffered abuse as children to file legal actions for two years, were filed in the name of multiple people. There are precisely those who still consider that the special law for adult survivors fell short in terms of its validity period.
This is what he says Attorney Anthony DiPietrowho has brought hundreds of cases on behalf of alleged victims of abuse, and who stressed that the rule’s one-year period does not allow more people bring their cases to light.
“It is completely unfair to tell a sexual abuse survivor that they have one year to physically recover from the abuse, mentally recover from the abuse, find a lawyer, share that story of abuse with a lawyer, who they don’t know, and have the lawyer come forward the case within a period of 12 months,” said the jurist.
Attorneys Susan Crumiller and Carrie Goldberg, of the Survivors Law Project organization, who presented some 24 cases, however stated that they will try to advocate so that once the law is expiry it can be reopened for at least one more year.
“A lot of people didn’t know about this window and still don’t know about it,” Crumiller said. “Unlike other types of wrongs, sexual abuse and trauma is something that takes time to heal and it takes time for survivors to even identify what happened to them and make the decision to litigate.”
Mallory Allena lawyer who has filed 194 lawsuits against urologist Darius Paduch, accused of abusing hundreds of male patients, regretted that the years-old time period for filing lawsuits expires so soon.
“I know that the news about Dr. Paduch has not reached the vast majority of his patients. And I am sure that we will hear about his patients for years to come and unfortunately we will have to tell them that the window is closed,” the lawyer said. “That is a real tragedy. I hope there will be more legal reforms.”
And about the impact that the end of the rule will have on victims of sexual acts in New York prisons, lawyers such as Adam Slater, who has more than 1,200 cases, almost 500 of them occurring at Rikers Island, described sexual acts behind bars as a “generalized and systemic” problem of attacks on inmates, which many will not be able to report.
Data
- 2,500 and more lawsuits were filed under the Adult Survivors law
- 2022 was approved and gave only one year to present claims from previous years
- The regulations expire on November 23
- 50% of the cases presented have to do with alleged abuse of inmates
- 1 year was the window that victims from the past had to sue
2023-11-22 23:43:35
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