The Child Victims Act, passed by the state legislature in February, opened a “look back” window on Aug. 14 — a one-year chance to bring old cases to court. An avalanche of claims has already begun to hit local courts, and more than a dozen states are considering similar measures to extend the statute of limitations on sex crimes against children.
“It’s growing daily,” said Manhattan attorney Jennifer Freeman of the Marsh Law Firm.
Marsh, which also represents more than 200 alleged Archibald victims and has filed suit on behalf of 45 of them so far, also acknowledged “resolving” a number of claims, but declined to say how many or how much was paid out by the hospital. “We like to take these cases one at a time,” she added.
It’s unclear how much such institutions could be forced to pay out to victims who do end up in court.
“I would not be surprised if it was $1 billion plus,” Freeman said. “This is decades of abuse we’re talking about.”