WHITE PLAINS (NY)
Journal News
September 12, 2019
By Joseph Spector and Jon Campbell
https://www.lohud.com/story/news/politics/albany/2019/09/12/child-victims-act-sponsor-rochester-diocese-its-their-own-fault/2298998001/
Supporters of the Catholic Church in New York feared the Child Victims Act would force dioceses across the state into financial ruin.
On Thursday, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester became the first diocese in New York to file for bankruptcy protection, claiming it faces massive judgements for past sexual abuse within its organization.
Supporters of the Child Victims Act, which went into effect last month, had little sympathy for the diocese and others who may also go the bankruptcy route.
Victims “have every right now to go to court and seek justice, and if the institutions find themselves in financial difficulty, what I could say is: It’s their own fault,” Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, a Manhattan Democrat and the bill’s sponsor, said Thursday.
The law revived previously expired claims from child sexual abuse victims, who have a one-year window to seek judgments against their abusers and the institutions who harbored them regardless of how long ago the abuse occurred.
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