ALBANY (NY)
Times Union [Albany NY]
December 11, 2023
By Brendan J. Lyons
It’s unclear if the judgment against the Cohoes Memorial Hospital, which closed in 1986 amid a bankruptcy, will ever be paid
A state Supreme Court justice has awarded a $3.75 million judgment against the now-closed Cohoes Memorial Hospital in a Child Victims Act case filed by Gary Greenberg, a former Albany County legislator and state Senate candidate who was sexually abused there in 1967 by an employee, according to court records.
The sexual abuse of Greenberg took place when, as a young boy, he went with his mother to the hospital to visit his father, who had been admitted for treatment for more than a week.
Louis Van Wie, an accused serial child molester who would be sentenced to prison in 1997 for his conviction on unrelated sodomy and sexual abuse charges, had convinced Greenberg’s parents to let him take the boy on a tour of the hospital. Van Wie brought Greenberg to the roof of the hospital and sexually molested him while threatening to push him into an open elevator shaft if he didn’t comply.
After the incident, Van Wie told Greenberg that he would kill his parents and sister if he told anyone what happened. Greenberg told his mother about the sexual assault several weeks later; Van Wie was terminated from his job but Greenberg said the hospital failed to report the incident to police.
Greenberg would later become a staunch advocate for the passage of the Child Victims Act, which temporarily suspended New York’s statute of limitations for two years — allowing victims of childhood sexual abuse to file claims against their abusers or the institutions that employed them.
His advocacy was fueled by the years of mental anguish he endured following the abuse. In his civil case, Greenberg had testified that his parents had been plagued with guilt over what happened and that it caused “stress and unhappiness in what had previously been a happy family,” according to court records.
State Supreme Court Justice Justin Corcoran, who issued the judgment against the defunct hospital that ceased operating in 1986 amid a bankruptcy proceeding, noted in his ruling that Greenberg’s childhood, adolescence and young adulthood had been mired in “isolation, distrust, depression, and anxiety” due to the sexual assault.
“He refrained from socialization, avoided participating in athletics, and underperformed academically,” Corcoran wrote. “He … turned to alcohol to cope (and) testified about his difficulty in forming friendships and exploring romantic relationships until he was about 40 years old, when he commenced psychological counseling.”
Greenberg said the judgment “symbolizes that victims do remember and must be given every opportunity available for healing and justice.”
“My childhood and life changed forever in a flash second,” he said. “In the time from when I was abused until today I have pursued justice from the hospital for allowing and covering up my abuse. Louis VanWie has been in prison for the last 26 years for abusing over 300 kids — the majority after the Cohoes Memorial Hospital failed to report my abuse to police despite my parents urging them to.”
Greenberg praised the judge and his attorneys for the outcome, but noted, “there is nothing that can take away the pain and suffering I faced for the last 57 years.”
Greenberg had been a fixture in the halls of the state Capitol for many years as he joined others who fought for passage of the Child Victims Act — which was passed and signed into law in 2019. He has recently focused his efforts on what he believes are the statute’s shortfalls, including not setting up a fund to provide legal services for an untold number of victims who have not been able to find attorneys to take their cases — often because they were victimized by an individual. Many attorneys have declined to take cases unless there is an institution, such as the Boy Scouts of America or Catholic Church, that can be sued as part of a case.
Given the former hospital’s closure 37 years ago, it’s unclear whether Greenberg, who spent more than $200,000 for counseling and medical services related to the sexual assault, will be able to recoup the judgment.
Hillary Nappi, his attorney, said they are “pursuing all relevant options on collectibility now that we have a judgment.”
“Mr. Greenberg has waited a long time to have his day in court and to be able to have received a decision which acknowledges how much he has endured is a fantastic result,” Nappi said. “We hope this decision sets the tone for other Child Victim Act cases in sending a clear and direct message that even one instance of sexual abuse has a significant and long-lasting impact on the child who experiences it.”
Corcoran said in his decision that the default judgment against the hospital, which did not respond to the lawsuit, was for past and future emotional and physical pain and suffering, and past medical expenses estimated at $250,000.
Brendan J. Lyons is a managing editor for the Times Union overseeing the Capitol Bureau and investigations. Lyons joined the Times Union in 1998 as a crime reporter before being assigned to the investigations team. He became editor of the investigations team in 2013 and began overseeing the Capitol Bureau in 2017. You can reach him at blyons@timesunion.com or 518-454-5547.