Passage of New York Child Victims Act
Clergy abuse lawyers at Williams Cedar LLC and Seeger Weiss LLP applaud the recently passed New York Child Victims Act, which allows victims of sexual abuse a longer period of time to file suit against their abusers and those who allowed the abuse to continue.
NEW YORK, Feb. 1, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- On Monday, January 28, 2019, the New York legislature passed the revised New York Child Victims Act. Governor Andrew Cuomo met with advocates and sexual abuse survivors to discuss the passage of the updated Act. The law firms of Williams Cedar LLC and Seeger Weiss LLP support the passage of the revised Act, which will offer more survivors of sexual abuse the opportunity to file claims against their abusers who committed criminal acts against them, as well as the institutions that allowed the crimes to occur.
The updated New York Child Victims Act changes the statute of limitations and other guidelines that prevented many sexual abuse survivors from being able to hold their abusers accountable. In the revised legislation, the age of the survivors filing criminal cases against their abusers will be raised from 23 to 28 years old. Survivors would be able to file civil charges against their abusers and the associated institutions that facilitated the abuse and sheltered the perpetrators until the survivor reaches 55 years of age. A one-year window would permit older cases of sexual abuse, which may have been previously dismissed due to the former statute of limitations, to be revived.
The impact that the revised New York Child Victims Act will have on clergy abuse survivors in New York is immeasurable. Now, survivors will finally have the opportunity to pursue the justice they never believed achievable. The new law offers hope to survivors and current victims who may have been afraid to speak out against the Catholic church and abusive clergy members about the trauma that continues to affect their lives. By implementing revisions to the Act, other state legislatures may be inspired to alter their statute of limitations to accommodate more survivors of sexual abuse.
The attorneys at Williams Cedar and Seeger Weiss care passionately about the welfare and futures of clergy abuse survivors and current victims of sexual abuse. The firms fully supports the passage of the revised New York Child Victims Act and remain hopeful that other states will follow suit, allowing survivors to finally pursue justice for the crimes committed against them.
Williams Cedar LLC has joined forces with the New York City-based law firm of Seeger Weiss LLP; Muhammad Aziz from the Texas law firm of Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Sorrels, Agosto & Aziz; and Michelle Simpson Tuegel of The Simpson Tuegel Law Firm, also from Texas. Seeger Weiss has been a been a preeminent New York law firm for 20 years, best known for serving as lead counsel in the NFL Concussion litigation, as well as other prominent national litigations. Mr. Aziz and Ms. Tuegel have national experience handling high-profile cases, representing abuse survivors with U.S. National Team and Olympic gymnasts abused by Larry Nassar. Together, the firms are representing more than 200 clergy abuse survivors nationwide. Those with questions can call 877-912-2668 toll free or 212-584-0700 in New York or visit the firms' website dedicated to clergy abuse survivors at http://www.abusedbyclergy.com.
SOURCE Williams Cedar LLC
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