New York Assembly Passes Adult Survivors Act, Which is Set to Become Law

The Adult Survivors Act (the “Act”) -- modeled on the Child Victim’s Act (the “CVA”), which was enacted in 2019 -- has just been passed by the New York State Assembly Monday and is on the cusp of being enacted into law. There was surprisingly little attention and coverage about the passage of this bill, and it may take many by surprise. The Act will allow for claims of adult victims of sexual abuse that are currently time barred to be temporarily “revived.” Specifically, it will allow for a one-year revival window for any survivor who says they were sexually abused as an adult to sue their abuser, as well as any other person or entity they allege is responsible, in civil court. The Act will apply in any situation where a person claims that, when they were over the age of eighteen, they were a victim of certain sexually based offenses, as set forth on in Article 130 of the New York Penal Code, as well as several other sexually based offenses. 

The New York State Senate passed the bill in April, and after failing to come to the floor of the state Assembly for a vote the last few years, the Assembly voted on, and passed, the bill Monday. The bill has now been sent to Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has said that she would sign the bill into law.

The Act will allow for the one-year revival window to open, and for claims to first be filed, starting six months from passage of the Act.  It will also provide for a trial preference for such actions and directs the chief administrator of the courts to promulgate rules for the “timely”  adjudication of these cases, although it does not specify what that will mean. After the CVA was enacted, the court established Rule 202.72 of Uniform Civil Rules For The Supreme Court & The County Court, which provides for, among other things, dedicated court parts, special training for judges, and expedited scheduling.  Presumably, similar rules will be promulgated for the Act.

The consequence of the Act is sweeping, not only as to the ability to initiate civil claims against the alleged predator, but against the companies or institutions that employed them. The Act will allow women or men who did not make criminal complaints, or file civil complaints based on criminal conduct when they believed they were victimized, to do so now – even for actions that might have occurred decades ago. And to the extent such conduct occurred in the workplace, and a plaintiff believes that the criminal conduct occurred because the employer did not properly supervise the errant employee, or engaged in other civil wrongs as to the plaintiff resulting in the abuse, the employer can be also be named as a defendant in the lawsuit. The Act will allow employees to file civil lawsuits against their current and former employers relating to alleged criminal conduct of a co-worker, regardless of how long ago such conduct occurred, or if any complaint was ever made.

The passage of the CVA in 2019 resulted in the floodgates opening to thousands of lawsuits across the state, many of which remain pending as the sheer volume of these cases, albeit complicated by COVID court closures, has been very difficult to administer. The passage of the Act will only compound the problem of court administration of abuse allegations from many  years ago.  Even more concerning is that litigating claims under the Act will likely present significant hurdles to employers and institutions as to how such cases can be properly defended, particularly where the claims concern decades-old abuse.