Have you noticed a recent surge in sexual assault allegations? Well, that is because there has been one! The surge we've seen the last month is related to the expiration of the New York Adult Survivors Act, which provided a one-year window allowing people to file lawsuits (which is beyond New York statute of limitations). Since the Act was signed last year, more than 3,700 claims have been filed in the state. The suits range from claims against celebrities and politicians to claims aimed at institutions (like jails and hospitals) and their processes. This week, a look at the background, the bill, and what is currently happening.
Background
Back in 2016, I wrote a post called The Statue of Silence which looked into the statute of limitations related to sexual abuse. In general, the purpose of creating a statute of limitations is to ensure convictions are based upon evidence that has not had the opportunity to deteriorate. With time, some memories become weaker and less reliable, physical evidence is degraded, destroyed, or lost, and witnesses move, get sick, or die. After the time period of the statute has run out, the person who committed the offense cannot be charged or convicted.
When looking at sexual abuse in particular, research has shown that victims can have difficult emotions (like fear, guilt, or shame) that can impede their ability to come forward within the statute's allowed timeframe. In the wake of #MeToo, studies have also shown the number of reported sexual assault cases have risen significantly. Many states have grappled with the reality of how these types of crimes and the statutes in place do not always give people the time they may need to seek justice.
The Child Victims Act
Back in 2019, New York took action to expand the statute of limitations with the Child Victims Act of 2019. This bill expanded the New York statute from just one year for civil cases to 20 years for both civil and criminal cases that involve specified categories of sex crimes, like rape, related to children. This change only applied to new cases, not retroactively.
This bill also allows people who are victims of child sexual assault to bring civil lawsuits until their 55th birthday. Previously, people were only allowed to file suit before the age of 23. If survivors were eligible to file a civil lawsuit before the passage of the law (if they were over the age of 23, but under the age of 55), they are also allowed to file up until they are 55. Criminal prosecution of many sexual offenses committed against children are allowed to begin up until the victim is 23, rather than having had to begin by the time the victim is 18.
Finally, the bill allows childhood survivors of sexual abuse, who could not file a civil lawsuit because they did not start a suit by the time they were 23 years of age, a one-year "window" to file a civil action for damages. There is no age limit on bringing these actions during this window. This provision is primarily meant to give those who were over the age of 55 when the bill passed a chance to pursue justice. The “window” commenced 6 months from the signing of the law, or on August 14, 2019, and expired a year later. During this window, upwards of 11,000 lawsuits were filed, many against institutions like the Catholic Church.
Because this bill either only applied to cases going forward or specially child sexual assault, many people saw a missing demographic of victims that continued to not be able to pursue action.
Enter the Adult Survivors Act.
The Bill
The Adult Survivors Act, signed in New York in May of 2022, allows survivors of a sexual assault that occurred when they were over the age of 18 a one-year window to file a suit, regardless of how long ago the abuse occurred. The bill offered a similar type of "look-back window" as the Child Victims Act. It took effect on November 24, 2022 and expired on November 24th of this year. This Act helped people who experienced abuse when they were not a child still seek justice.
When signing this bill, New York Governor Kathy Hochul stated
"Today, we take an important step in empowering survivors across New York to use their voices and hold their abusers accountable. The fight against sexual assault requires us to recognize the impact of trauma within our justice system. I am proud to sign this legislation, which is part of our collective responsibility to protect one another and create an environment that makes survivors feel safe. While our work is not done, eradicating sexual assault begins with our ability to bring the perpetrators of these heinous acts to justice and this legislation is a historic step forward."
Bill sponsor, Linda Rosenthal, had this to say about the bill, "The mission of the Adult Survivors Act, allowing survivors of sexual abuse the opportunity to speak their truth in court and seek redress, has been realized."
Currently
With the Thanksgiving deadline, we saw numerous suits pile in. Some of the biggest headlines over the past year were suits filed against former Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Eric Adams of New York, former President Donald Trump, and celebrities like Harvey Weinstein, ex-Grammys CEO Neil Portnow, Marilyn Manson, Sean Combs (Diddy), and Russell Brand.
Trump was one of the first people to be sued under the Adult Survivors Act. In November of last year, E. Jean Carroll, a writer, who wrote about the assault in her book, published in 2019, filed suit. For the past few years, Carroll and Trump have been in a legal battle related to a defamation claim from Carroll (Trump rebuffed the claim in her book). Trump was found liable for sexually abusing Carroll in the suit she was able to file this past year under the Adult Survivors Act. Because of this, she was also awarded $5 Million in damages for her defamation case.
Cuomo has been accused by at least 11 women of sexual misconduct. These accusations are what led to his resignation in 2021, and one staffer has filed suit against him. Adams' accusation includes the transit bureau of the New York Police Department and the New York Police Department Guardians Association as defendants and asks for $5 million in relief for the alleged assault in 1993.
Neil Portnow was accused of drugging and raping a woman in a hotel in 2018. The suit also claims that the Recording Academy “aided and abetted” to “protect their reputations and silence Plaintiff and other women in the music industry.” Marilyn Manson was accused of grooming and sexually abusing a minor in the 1990s. Diddy has had three different women file claims in the last couple weeks. Cassie, an R&B singer, was the first to file a case accusing Combs of beating and raping her while they were in a long-term relationship, they settled within 24 hours. The second two women have accused Combs of sexual abuse in separate incidents dating back to the early 1990s. Russel Brand has been accused by five women for alleged sexual misconduct and assault from 2006 to 2013. One woman was able to file suit in New York for an alleged assault that occurred in New York during the production of the film Arthur in July 2010.
Suits against individuals have nabbed up most of the headlines, but that doesn't mean they have been the majority. Many suits have been filed against institutions (primarily prisons, jails, and hospitals) for "systematically ignoring" and hiding abuse that occurred within them. There are at least 479 suits that have charges of abuse occurring at Rikers Island. Through these suits, people have highlighted how the systems in place at institutions did not do enough to protect patients from abuse inflicted by doctors, prison guards, and other employees at these facilities. Recently, Columbia University's hospital system agreed to notify approximately 6,500 patients of the abuse inflicted by a former hospital doctor who has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.
What Happens Now?
New York is not the only state looking to address this issue. California and New Jersey have implemented similar "lookback windows". California's is for historic sex abuse cases opened in January 2023. Theirs will last four years and apply to people who were victims of sexual assault when they were adult that occurred any time after January 2009. New Jersey's two-year window was implemented in December 2019, and applied to both children or adults at the time of the abuse.
Maine and Vermont both removed statute of limitations indefinitely for those who are survivors of child sex abuse. In Maine, they amended a 1999 law that eliminated the statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse actions to apply retroactively regardless of whether the previously applicable statute of limitations had expired. Since then, they have been fighting in the State Supreme Court on the constitutionality of the bill, after thousands of cases were filed particularly against the Catholic Church. In Vermont, their bill was signed at the same time as another bill that extends the statute of limitations for criminal offenses including manslaughter and sexual exploitation of a vulnerable adult.
Nevada has been passing a lot of legislation around this. In 2019, they passed a Sexual Assault Survivors' Bill of Rights which also removed the criminal statute of limitations for sexual assaults in which DNA evidence confirms the perpetrator. In 2021, they removed its statute of limitations for adult victims looking to file a civil lawsuit against their alleged abusers.
With the window closed, where do these lawsuits go? Well, for most, it will take years before these cases make it to trial, if they get that far. Many advocates are currently looking for ways to put a permanent solution in place via the New York State Legislature, or get the window reinstated for another period of time. Overall, we have seen these types of bills to challenge institutions and companies to take responsibility regarding abuse occurring due to their failure in processes, reporting structure, or support for victims. Hopefully, the results from this Act and others set a precedent for states across the nation.
Cover Photo by Tingey Injury Law Firm on Unsplash
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