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‘Time for a Reckoning’: Flood of Abuse Cases Against NY Archdiocese Filed Amid Deadline Uncertainty

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Alleged victims of abuse decades ago have filed a flood of lawsuits — 95 in the last month alone — against the Archdiocese of New York amid confusion over the deadline for the look-back window provision of the Child Victims Act.

“We filed 100 cases against the Catholic Church across the state of New York in the last 60 days,” said attorney James Marsh.

“Our team has been working nights and weekends.”

Another cause of the case surge is uncertainty over the CVA filing deadline, which Marsh said has led to “mass confusion.”

On May 8, Gov. Andrew Cuomo extended until Jan. 14 the original one-year window for plaintiffs to file otherwise-barred suits for abuse alleged to have happened years in the past.

On May 27, the state Senate and Assembly voted to further extend the deadline to Aug. 14, 2021, but the governor has not yet signed the legislation. A spokesperson for Cuomo told THE CITY the bill was “being reviewed but had not yet been delivered to the governor.”

Marsh called the shifting deadline “a big smoke-and-mirrors game, this mythical extension of the CVA deadline.”

“There’s some kind of pissing match going on between the governor and the legislature which has led to a great deal of frustration on the part of our clients,” Marsh said. “I’d say there’s a consensus among the bar that we need to get into high gear.”

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