ROCHESTER (NY)
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
May 12, 2020
By Steve Orr
The one-year window for filing lawsuits over past acts of child sexual abuse has been extended by five months — except for claims against the Rochester diocese for misconduct by its priests.
New York’s Child Victims Act, approved by the state Legislature in early 2019, carved out a one-year period for reviving old child sexual abuse claims that had been barred the statute of limitations. That one-year window was to close Aug. 13.
But in an executive order prompted by the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Friday extended the window for five months, to Jan. 13. The pandemic forced closure of the state’s courts in late March and ended filing of new lawsuits. It is not yet known when state courts will reopen.
The extension does not apply, however, to legal claims alleging past child sexual abuse by Catholic priests, brothers, deacons, nuns and other leaders in the Rochester diocese.
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