NYC NOW - December 4, 2023: Evening Roundup

Episode Date: December 4, 2023

New York State is getting over $100 million for mental health services. Plus, WNYC’s Tiffany Hanssen and Samantha Max discuss what could come next for survivors of sexual assault who missed the deadline for the Adult Survivors Act to file lawsuits. And finally, New Yorkers sift through their recipe boxes to pull out the one that brings back the fondest memories.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. I'm Jenae Pierre. New York State is getting over $100 million for mental health services under the historic gun violence prevention bill that was passed last year. $64 million will go to the organization that runs the 988 Crisis and Suicide Hotline. The funding will also pay for about 400 new mental health professionals to work in schools across the state. Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon says, right now, many schools have no mental health services. You see a young shooter and you look at their lives. They have been confronted with multiple mental health traumas in their life, whether it's a loss of a loved one,

whether it's someone who's arrested, whether it's someone who suffers from addiction illness. He adds that one Staten Island middle and high school had no counselors in place this fall after a 13-year-old was shot and killed in a nearby playground. Stay close. There's more after the brief. Late last month on Thanksgiving Day, a one-year window closed allowing people to bring sexual assault claims, even if the statute of limitations had passed. Now, some lawmakers, attorneys, and advocates are considering ways to allow people who missed the deadline for the Adult Survivors Act to file lawsuits. My colleague Tiffany Hansen talked with WNYC's Samantha Max about what could come next for survivors of sexual assault. Just get us up to speed. What is the Adult Survivors Act and how many civil claims were filed?

So this is a law that was passed to create an extra year for people to file a sexual assault lawsuit after the Statute of Limitations had passed. And the statute of limitations essentially is a time limit. There are certain versions for civil lawsuits, certain versions for criminal cases that kind of puts a little bit of a window on when a case can be. brought. And this law was passed in the wake of the Me Too movement. As lawmakers and members of the general public have learned more about the prevalence of sexual assault and also the lasting impacts of sexual abuse and why it can sometimes take a while for people to decide that they want to bring a civil claim. The latest data from the state court system show that more than 3,800 civil claims have been filed in courts across the state, with a really big percentage being in New York City

and the metro area, so also on Long Island and in Westchester. And many of these cases were filed by formerly incarcerated people who say that they were sexually abused while they were in jails and prisons. Some cases have also been brought against politicians. Some have also been brought against celebrities and against even local hospital systems regarding doctors who have been accused of sexually assaulting their patients. Well, we mentioned the window closed last week. Is there any chance that it could just be reopened? Yes, this is something that already many attorneys and lawmakers and advocates are all pushing for,

including the sponsor in the state senate, Senator Brad Hoyleman Siegel. He says he and his colleagues are just beginning to assess the impact of the Adult Survivors Act, and they're thinking about what the next step should be. But extending the window is definitely a possibility, or he's even talking about potentially proposing legislation that would just get rid of the statute of limitations for sexual assault lawsuits altogether. Unclear how likely that would be, but here's what he has to say. I wonder if we reopened the window or had a permanent window, if more cases would come forward. My guess is yes. A common refrain that I've heard is that there's no timeline for trauma. It really takes time for survivors not only to just come to terms with what has happened to them. Sometimes they don't even realize right away that what happened to them is sexual assault. But it's also common for survivors not to be believed. That's obviously less common after Me Too now that people are kind of more aware of these dynamics. But certainly at the time that many of these

old cases happened where the statute of limitations has already passed, it was more common for people to be afraid that they would not be believed. And then even once survivors do decide that they want to come forward, it takes time to find an attorney and build a case. Well, it sounds like it's going to take lawmakers a little while to decide whether to extend the ASA or not. In the meantime, are there other ways that folks can file a lawsuit if the statute of limitations has passed? Yes, in New York City, there is another law that actually provides a two-year window for gender-based violence lawsuits if the statute of limitations has passed. So not everyone who was eligible for the Adult Survivors Act would be eligible under the city law because it's specifically focused on violence that is motivated by gender. But on the other hand, some people who wouldn't have been able to file under the Adult Survivors Act would be able to, under the Adult Survivors Act, would be able to, under the Civilized.

city law because the person wouldn't necessarily have to be sexually assaulted. And the deadline to file a civil suit under that law is March 2025. Well, what about the folks who filed a claim during this lookback window? Do we know what's next for them? Yes, I mean, it's going to be a long path for many of them. One attorney who I spoke to Adam P. Slater, his firm has filed a bunch of these lawsuits under the Adult Survivors Act. And he called this moment mile three or four of a marathon for his clients. He's hoping that actually the accused will try to reach settlements quickly and avoid longer legal battles, particularly in the cases that he's bringing against city jails and state prison

systems. I do hope that the state, city and counties, you know, do the right thing by these brave survivors and not make them go through, you know, the full. litigation process and re-traumatize them. So it will really depend from case to case, but I should also note that every person who's accused has a right to, you know, prove their case in court. And even if a settlement is reached along the way, that doesn't necessarily mean that someone is admitting to wrongdoing.

That's WMYC's public safety reporter, Samantha Max, talking with my colleague Tiffany Hansen. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WMYC. Catch us every weekday, three times a day. I'm Jenae Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow.