The New York Metropolis Council overwhelmingly authorized on Tuesday laws to revive intercourse abuse survivors’ means to convey civil claims below metropolis regulation and reopen a one-year “lookback” window for folks whose circumstances had been dismissed after a restrictive courtroom ruling earlier this 12 months.
Intro 1297, which had greater than 41 co-sponsors and handed on Nov. 25 with 48 votes within the affirmative, will make clear that survivors could convey claims below Metropolis’s Gender-Motivated Violence Act (GMVA) not solely in opposition to particular person abusers but in addition in opposition to establishments that enabled sexual violence, even when the abuse occurred a long time in the past.
If signed by outgoing Mayor Eric Adams earlier than the top of this 12 months, the brand new submitting window is scheduled to run from March 2026 to March 2027, offering survivors with one other alternative to pursue civil justice, together with claims in opposition to hospitals, companies, and different entities that facilitated misconduct.
A consultant for Mayor Adams mentioned Hizzoner will evaluation the laws, however didn’t disclose when a choice could be made, including, “We stand with survivors of gender-motivated violence in their quest for justice.”
The Metropolis Council first enacted the GMVA in 2000 to permit civil lawsuits in opposition to individuals who dedicated gender-motivated violence. In 2022, the regulation was revised to carry accountable those that performed a task in facilitating abuse.
However in September, a courtroom dominated that some survivors’ circumstances weren’t lined below the statute, resulting in the dismissal of pending lawsuits filed by folks abused in city-run establishments, together with 450 circumstances involving juvenile detention amenities.
Intercourse abuse survivors ‘deserve to be heard’: Invoice supporters
Tuesday’s vote adopted a press convention in Metropolis Corridor Park, the place survivors, attorneys, advocates, and neighborhood leaders spoke in regards to the influence of trauma, the obstacles created by statutes of limitations, and the necessity to maintain establishments accountable for hurt that was ignored, hidden, or allowed to proceed.
One abuse survivor who had his case thrown out earlier this 12 months, Austin Stevens, mentioned the dismissal “re-traumatized” him and felt like being silenced once more. Preventing for the invoice, he mentioned, “reminded me that I am not alone” and that survivors “deserve to be heard.”
“It took me right back to being a kid. When I was silent about the abuse I went through, because I truly believed no one would believe me,” he mentioned by way of tears. “Seeing the case, going out, felt like that same silence all over again.”
Stevens mentioned he confirmed up on Tuesday to talk for victims of sexual abuse who died or fell into dependancy as a result of “they didn’t know how to deal with the pain and suffering of being sexually assaulted.”
Leon Santiago shared how trauma from abuse in a juvenile facility has adopted him into adulthoodPhoto by Lloyd Mitchell
One other survivor, Leon Santiago, who additionally had his lawsuit dismissed, mentioned the abuse he suffered as a toddler in a juvenile facility “stayed with me my entire life.”
He shared {that a} workers member abused him in a manner “no child should ever experience,” and that the trauma has adopted him by way of maturity, resurfacing by way of ache and triggers. He mentioned he stays grounded by his 14-year-old daughter and the soundness he has constructed by way of his job.
The passage of Intro. 1297, he mentioned, “gives me a real chance for my case to move forward” and is “another step in my healing.”
Queens Council Member Selvena Brooks-Powers, who launched the invoice, mentioned survivors ought to by no means have misplaced their probability at justice due to a loophole.
She known as the vote a “powerful day” belonging to “every survivor, every advocate, every attorney, every organizer and every New Yorker who refused to give up the fight for justice.” The invoice, she mentioned, “restores survivors’ rights, reopens the GMVA lookback window and makes absolutely clear that institutions cannot hide behind legal technicalities to escape their responsibility.”
Council Member Selvena Brooks-Powers and lawyer Jerome Block lead Tuesday’s press convention, flanked by survivors and advocates, forward of the Metropolis Council vote to revive GMVA claims.Photograph by Lloyd Mitchell 
Photograph by Lloyd Mitchell
Advocacy organizations additionally voiced assist. Emily Miles, govt director of the New York Metropolis Alliance Towards Sexual Assault, known as the vote a second that “revives civil pathways for people harmed by gender-motivated violence” and permits claims “against the institutions that played a pivotal role in allowing that abuse to take place.”
The New York State Trial Attorneys Affiliation, which has been a constant advocate for survivors in Albany, known as the Council’s motion “a major step toward accountability, healing, and systemic reform.”
Board member Judy Livingston mentioned the vote displays a justice system that acknowledges the influence of trauma reasonably than chopping off claims earlier than survivors are ready to return ahead.
“Survivors deserve a justice system that recognizes the reality of trauma, not one that shuts the courthouse doors before they are ready to step forward,” mentioned Livingston.
Jerome Block, a accomplice at Levy Konigsberg, known as the vote on Intro. 1297 “a victory for survivors,” saying it confirmed that “democracy is working” because the Council moved to amend the GMVA.
“Survivors deserve accountability,” mentioned Speaker Adrienne Adams following the vote. “Many New Yorkers know or love someone who has been affected by gender-motivated violence. Accountability is a key part of the road to recovery, and why the Council advanced this bill to empower survivors.”
If Intro. 1297 is enacted, anybody harmed by an individual who commits, directs, permits, participates in, or conspires to commit a gender-motivated violent crime can file a civil lawsuit.
The laws states that claims should be filed inside 18 months of the regulation’s efficient date. Those that filed claims between March 1, 2023, and March 1, 2025, could amend or refile their circumstances to incorporate a explanation for motion below the brand new provision.
