In a pivotal legal battle covered yesterday by litigation reporter Brian Lee at Law.com, New York’s top court deliberated Tuesday on whether to extend the filing window under the state’s Child Victims Act (CVA) by an additional six months. The case centers on a certified federal question posed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, asking if the revival period should begin sooner than its current timeline.
The CVA initially allowed survivors of childhood sexual abuse to file claims during a two-year lookback period from August 14, 2019, to August 14, 2021. However, the law took effect in February 2019, with a six-month waiting period designed to give survivors and their attorneys time to prepare cases before the official filing window opened.
The appeal, Brittany N. Jones v. Cattaraugus-Little Valley Central School District, involves a Pennsylvania woman who filed a lawsuit in April 2019—four months before the CVA’s filing period began. Jones alleges sexual abuse by a high school teacher between 2009 and 2011. The teacher pled guilty to third-degree rape in 2013.
Jones’ attorney argued that the court should interpret the CVA to include a retroactive six-month extension, which would accommodate premature filings like Jones’. She asserted that a dismissal without prejudice could have allowed her to refile within the proper window if her initial claim had been deemed premature.
The attorney representing the school district pushed back, stating, “This case is about whether the court is going to upset established notions of what statutes of limitations are in order to save one claimant from run-of-the-mill attorney error.” Chief Judge Rowan Wilson and Judge Shirley Troutman engaged the attorney in a discussion about legislative intent and the ambiguities in the CVA’s statutory timeline.
U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny, presiding in the Western District of New York, had previously dismissed Jones’ case. He ruled that the school district was under no obligation to notify Jones of her premature filing or to preserve her claim for refiling.
The New York Court of Appeals’ decision could have broad implications for survivors of childhood sexual abuse and the future interpretation of statutes designed to revive otherwise time-barred claims. Legal experts and survivors’ advocates are watching the case closely, as an expanded filing window could impact numerous claims dismissed due to technicalities.