NYS Assembly Abandons Survivors, Leaving Unfair Legal Loophole Intact and Jeopardizing CVA and ASA Cases

ALBANY, NY (06/18/2025) (readMedia)-- Last night, the New York State Assembly adjourned for the year without passing A8635/S8320 (Rosenthal/Hoylman-Sigal).

Emily Miles, executive director of the New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault, and Michael Pollenberg, vice president of government affairs at Safe Horizon, issued the below statement in response:

"The New York State Assembly has failed survivors. By refusing to pass A8635 on the final day of the legislative session, the Assembly has denied thousands of survivors their rightful day in court.

When the legislature passed the Child Victims Act in 2019 and the Adult Survivors Act in 2022, the legislative intent was crystal clear - increase paths to justice for survivors of sexual violence who were barred from the courts by antiquated statutes of limitations. Members of the Assembly, including its leadership, celebrated these historic victories that have allowed thousands of survivors from across the state to seek long overdue justice.

But the work isn't done. Recent court rulings have determined that in cases where the state is the defendant, survivors need to recall an unachievable level of specificity in order to proceed in their lawsuits. In response, Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal quickly authored legislation to remove these inane barriers to help ensure survivors in these cases could still pursue justice.

This bill provided a simple but urgent tweak to the Court of Claims Act that would have removed the requirement for survivors abused in state custody or on state property to recall specific details of their abuse like the exact time, date, and location. This burdensome, unjust filing requirement is often impossible for survivors to meet given that trauma can severely impair memory. It imposes a harsher legal standard on one group of survivors, primarily Black women abused in prison, than any other. The bill would have closed this cruel loophole, recently upheld by the Court of Appeals, that has enabled the Court of Claims to dismiss many Child Victims Act and Adult Survivors Act cases and put many more at risk.

The Senate did its job to fulfill the promises of the Child Victims Act and Adult Survivors Act. The Assembly did not. Their failure sends a clear and devastating message: some survivors deserve justice, and others don't. The Survivor Justice Coalition will not stop fighting until all survivors, regardless of where they were harmed, have full access to the courts."

A8635/S8320 removed the time, date, and location requirement for all pending CVA and ASA cases in the Court of Claims, as well as for dismissed cases still eligible for appeal. It also removed the requirement for all new cases filed in the Court of Claims.