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As New York Legal Window Opens, Hundreds of Child Sex Abuse Victims Sue Institutions
by REUTERS

NEW YORK—Scores of people in New York state who were sexually abused as children sued institutions, including the Roman Catholic Church, on Aug. 14, the first day a new law temporarily enabled them to file lawsuits over decades-old crimes.

By the close of business of Wednesday, 427 such lawsuits had been filed in courts across the state, according to a courts system spokesman. The vast majority of them were against the Church and its various dioceses in the state, as claimants accused priests of sexually abusing them as children and Church leaders of covering up the priests’ crimes, according to state court records.

The state’s landmark Child Victims Act includes a provision that lifts for one year a statute of limitations that had barred older complaints and which critics said was too restrictive. Although the majority of the new lawsuits appeared to be against the Church, other people sued schools, hospitals and individuals, and at least two people sued the Boy Scouts of America.

Previously, most victims of childhood sexual abuse only had until the age of 23 to bring criminal charges or to seek damages in civil lawsuits.

Continues:

https://www.theepochtimes.com/as-new-york-legal-window-opens-hundreds-of-child-sex-abuse-victims-sue-institutions_3042910.html

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