NEW YORK
The Riversale Press
By Shant Shahrigian
Posted 6/25/14
Horace Mann School graduate Joseph Cumming says it took him 34 years to fully realize his treatment at the hands of his music teacher Johannes Somary was sexual abuse. But by then, even if he had wanted to, it was far too late for him to take legal action. New York’s criminal and civil statute of limitations for sexual abuse of minors is five years after the victim turns 18.
After revelations of decades of abuse involving more than 30 victims at Horace Mann emerged in June 2012, the Bronx District Attorney’s office said the limitations prevented it from prosecuting any of the perpetrators.
The state legislature’s recent failure to take up the Child Victims Act — which would eliminate the criminal and civil statues of limitations for child sexual abuse and create a one-year window for past victims to seek justice — infuriated Mr. Cumming and other survivors.
Hawaii and Massachusetts Lead the Way for Access to Justice for Child Sex Abuse Victims While the Worst States Do Nothing
This is another good year for the victims of child sex abuse in a number of states, including Hawaii, Massachusetts, and Florida, and it’s not over yet. It is also the year that the states with some of the worst statutes of limitations and most troubling sex abuse scandals—New York and Georgia–continue to sit on their hands.
While humankind has struggled with child sex abuse since time immemorial, we did not understand the dynamics of our trivialization of child sex abuse until the Boston Globerevealed in 2001 that respected Church leaders were creating safe havens for pedophiles. It was a short step from there to Penn State, the Boy Scouts, prestigious private schools, and many other organizations.
A critical reason we were in the dark is that survivors often need years, and even decades, to come forward. Kids don’t understand sex, statutory rape, or adults who care for them, groom them, and love them while they sexually abuse them. They are literally helpless.
Unwittingly, the legal system (here and abroad) abetted the problem with short SOLs that meant that perpetrators could access many victims without consequence because once a victim was ready to seek justice, the courthouse doors were locked. These SOLs also played into the hands of institutions intent on protecting their image, like the Catholic Church, Penn State, Horace Mann, Yeshiva University, and many others.
Starting in 2003, with California’s one-year “window”–during which the SOLs were eliminated for survivors even if they had expired–the United States has been at the forefront in the world for leveling the playing field for sex abuse victims by extending and eliminating SOLs, which simply permit victims to bring their cases to court. They still have to prove their case.
Hawaii has become the most progressive state in the country when it comes to granting access to justice for child sex abuse victims—by removing the arbitrary SOL deadline victims have to get to court. It had already enacted a window, which revived SOLs for victims from April 2012 until April 2014. Now Governor Neil Abercrombie has signed a bill that extends that same window for two more years and eliminates the criminal SOLs going forward. That gives Hawaii a better window than even Delaware had, which had a 2-year window and eliminated both criminal and civil SOLs.
How did Hawaii do this? It was a righteous combination of the Women’s Legislative Caucus and the relative powerlessness of Hawaii’s Catholic Conference. Nor did it hurt that the cases filed during the window educated legislators, the Governor, and the public about the horrific harm done to Hawaii’s children, which no one knew until the lawsuits were filed. The cases against Jay Ram in particular should transform every legislator into a proponent of reviving and eliminating SOLs.
Great Progress Against Perpetrators While the Catholic Bishops Throw Their Own Victims Under the Bus: Massachusetts
The Massachusetts legislature joined the vanguard increasing access to justice for child sex abuse victims against their perpetrators this week by unanimously passing innovative SOL reform. Gov. Patrick Deval is expected to sign the bill in the near future. While this is a great step forward, the Catholic bishops’ fingerprints are on it. The new law increases the SOL for lawsuits against the abusers, but not the institutions that shielded them, among which is the Roman Catholic Church, as legislators there well know.
Massachusetts has taken the most innovative route this year, and other states should take note. Under the leadership of its relatively new Joint Judiciary Committee Chair, Senator William Brownsberger, for the first time since the crisis started, permitted an SOL civil reform measure to go forward. Rep. John Lawn energetically led the charge in the House. The new Massachusetts law is a testament to their persistent grit as well as the untiring efforts of Massachusetts survivors and child advocates.
Before now, Massachusetts halted sex abuse civil lawsuits at age 21 or three years after the victim discovered or should have discovered the connection between the abuse and current problems. The new law provides a retroactive, permanent extension to age 53 for suits against perpetrators (not the institutions who created the conditions for the abuse). Or, in English, it lets anyone who is 53 or under sue the person or persons who sexually abused them – even if their SOL already expired.
The Massachusetts law does provide a modest extension for survivors against institutions. It extends the discovery rule against institution-based abuse from 3 years to 7 years, and, like the extension to age 53 against perpetrators, it is retroactive. Thus, if someone discovered a connection between her current problems and the abuse over 3 years ago, but less than 7 years ago, the claim will be revived.
One need not be Einstein to figure out why there would be more generous SOLs against perpetrators than the institutions that made the abuse possible. The Catholic Conference (the lobbying arm of the bishops) in each state has invested heavily in trying to blocking access to justice for child sex abuse victims, and the bishops were at the table for this bill.
This Massachusetts development proves that the bishops remain ruthless in blocking reasonable retroactive SOLs against them. Why? On the surface it may appear it is the money, and that is what they usually say, but in fact it is the humiliating release of information still hidden in secret archives across the country–as the SOL windows have proved in California, Delaware, Hawaii and Minnesota. The Los Angeles archives, for example, demonstrated that Cardinal Roger Mahony actively shielded perpetrators from law enforcement despite his decades of protestations to the contrary. In Minnesota, there has been an avalanche of information about ongoing cover up even after the dioceses were required to improve their policies, endangering children until today.
Given most bishops’ typical block-all-SOL reform mindset, the Massachusetts development shows them acting with more integrity toward victims of incest and other close family predators. Perhaps Cardinal Sean O’Malley figured out, ahead of his brethren, that their self-protective lobbying in fact placed them on the side of the pedophiles and incestuous perpetrators. They simply had to stop lobbying against all sexual abuse survivors and future child victims. Accordingly, the Massachusetts bishops blinked and stepped back to permit more generous access to justice for victims at least against their perpetrators, but this new Massachusetts law spotlights them still throwing their own victims under the bus when it comes to their responsibility.
While this SOL law could have been better, if there is anything that the legislative process teaches us, it is that the perfect can be the enemy of the good. Now, for the next stage, the decent people of Massachusetts need to wake up and speak up to extend the SOL against institutions, because the buck finally stops in the pews and the voting booth.
A Good Future for Children with the Elimination of All Civil and Criminal SOLs: Florida
While Florida has yet to revive expired SOLs, and so cannot claim the mantle owned by Hawaii and Delaware, this year it eliminated the criminal SOLs for lewd or lascivious offenses committed upon or in the presence of a child less than 16 years old to add to its elimination of the civil and criminal SOLs in April 2010. For the children abused in Florida today, no arbitrary time line will prevent them from pressing charges or filing a lawsuit. Florida also has a relatively decent discovery rule and so a number of victims abused at least as far back as the 1990s can pursue civil justice.
Great Year for Pot, Pedophiles, and the Bishops: New York
Assemblywoman Marge Markey has introduced a bill to increase victims’ access to justice for the past 8 years, and was able to get it passed in the Assembly 5 times. Lynch, on behalf of Cardinal Timothy Dolan–who sits on what must be the largest undisclosed secret archive in the country because of the stingy SOLs–and his fellow New York bishops, has halted the bill in the Senate every single year.
Everyone knows that if Governor Cuomo put this issue on his agenda, New York’s children might have a chance at safety, but he is nearly somnolent on it so far. Cuomo, the Senators, and Lynch ought to read the poll done by the National Center for Victims of Crime (“NCVC”), which shows that a significant majority of New Yorkers favor the victims on this issue, not the bishops. As one of the very worst states for victims in the country, New York has much to do.
The one ray of light in an otherwise dark sky for New York’s victims is that Cuomo recently lambasted the Democratic senators, like Sen. Jeffrey Klein, who have given the Republicans majority control without a majority in the Senate. (Only in New York could this happen.) Republicans in most states have a lousy record on protecting child sex abuse victims; they seem to spend more time on the unborn than they do on the hurting children who were born. Sen. Dean Skelos is a prime example and one of the members most dedicated to keeping child sex abuse victims out of court, particularly to protect the Catholic hierarchy.
One of the Worst SOL States Learns the Wages of Unfair SOLs: Georgia
Georgia sits with New York, Alabama, and Michigan as the worst states in the country for SOLs. This year, it became abundantly clear how bad it is. The Camden County District Attorney released a report in early March concluding that six men had filed credible allegations of serious and severe sex abuse victims by Pak’s Karate instructor, Craig Peeples, but all of their claims were out of statute.
Their civil claims are also well beyond Georgia’s parsimonious statute, because the survivors were in their early to mid thirties and Georgia shuts down civil claims at age 23. While these men bravely came forward and the District Attorney and Georgia Bureau of Investigation dutifully investigated, it was to no avail, and Georgia’s current law guarantees that Peeples can continue to train kids, and in fact still picks them up at the public schools in his karate school bus.
Last week, Thomas Ary, another Pak’s Karate instructor, was tried on charges of sexually abusing a 9-year-old student and a grandchild with whom he was sharing a bed. It is not unusual for institutions to have more than one perpetrator at work. Sadly, the jury deadlockedon the former and acquitted on the latter. If the young karate student can handle it, there is hope that the DA will try again. During the trial, Peeples took the stand, and invoked the Fifth Amendment when asked about his abuse of the men who had credibly accused him.
A bill introduced by Rep. Jason Spencer did not make progress last year, but Georgia had moved forward on the criminal side in 2012 when it eliminated the criminal SOL. Before that, the victim was blocked after age 23 at the latest! With most victims needing until their 30s, 40s and even 50s to come forward, expect calls for improvement on the civil side in Georgia in the future, given the manifest injustice pouring out of Camden County.
The Road Ahead
Every state should do what Hawaii or Delaware have done, and may well do so, as public knowledge about the facts of child sex abuse grows and legislators reach the tipping point where they just can’t defer to the Catholic bishops on the issue of child sex abuse any longer.
Until then, the Massachusetts model—if it applied to everyone who made the abuse happen, whether perpetrator or institution–would be a signal achievement in many states. The legislators of Alabama, Georgia, Michigan, and New York need to look beyond their borders for a better world for their children, because their current SOLs in contrast appear to have been drafted in the Stone Ages.
There are also plenty of other states, as well, with somewhat better laws, but that desperately need to revive claims for thousands and thousands of known victims, with Iowa, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania leading the way.
A 55-year-old New Square educator, the father of 20 children and brother of a sex offender, has been indicted on charges of sexually abusing a pre-teen boy from 2001 to 2006.
Moshe Menachem Taubenfeld faces a charge of second-degree course of sexual conduct, a felony count covering a variety of sexual acts over a period of time. The count carries a maximum prison sentence of seven years.
The indictment accuses Taubenfeld of sexually abusing the boy, who was under age 13 at the time, on multiple occasions between September 2001 and May 2006, District Attorney Thomas Zugibe said Friday.
While prosecutors declined to identify the young man, the reported victim spoke with The Journal News before Taubenfeld’s arrest in January by Ramapo police.
The boy, Laiby, said the abuse started Sept. 11, 2001, when he went to Taubenfeld seeking comfort after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, police said. The abuse allegedly continued until he turned 13 in 2006.
Laiby said he and his family reported the abuse about six years ago to New Square community religious leaders, who discouraged him from going to police.
His report echoed accounts of other New Square abuse victims, including a young man, Yossi, who had reported Taubenfeld’s brother, Herschel, to police in 2011. Herschel Taubenfeld pleaded guilty last year to one count of misdemeanor forcible touching, received six years probation and had to register as a sex offender.
In a January investigative report by The Journal News, Yossi and another accuser, Yehuda, described the indifference of New Square Hasidic Jewish leaders to children being sexually abused and said the leaders have created a culture in which victims are discouraged from going to police and abusers are protected.
Moshe Menachem Taubenfeld’s lawyer, Gerard Damiani, said his client denies the charges.
Zugibe said the sexual contact involving Laiby took place in Taubenfeld’s home, starting on a monthly basis before becoming weekly and then almost daily.
“The victim was a young child when the defendant first began subjecting him to what would become a five-year nightmare of sexual abuse,” Zugibe said. “His depraved actions changed the victim’s life forever by robbing him of his innocence. Such alleged conduct can not go unpunished.”
Taubenfeld has been released pending a future court date.
ALBANY — New York is poised to become the 23rd state to legalize medical marijuana.
Under the deal Gov. Cuomo and legislative Democrats announced Thursday, patients won’t be able to smoke the drug — instead, they’ll have to ingest it as food or through vaporization, oils or pills.
Cuomo, citing the state’s efforts to combat smoking, would not sign off on a deal unless it contained the ban on puffing.
“Medical marijuana has the capacity to do a lot of good for a lot of people who are in pain and suffering,” Cuomo said.
“At the same time, medical marijuana is a difficult issue because there are risks to public health and safety that have to be averted. I believe this bill is the right balance,” he said.
The Assembly was scheduled to to pass the bill in the predawn hours Friday and the Senate is expected to vote on it later in the day.
The Senate sponsor, Diane Savino (D-Staten Island), gave in on the smoking ban.
“If that becomes the only thing that stands in the way, you can’t say no to that,” she said.
Cuomo, who pushed a more limited program in January, said he decided to support a broader bill after winning safeguards.
Among them is a provision that the governor can suspend the program at any time on the advice of the health commissioner or state police superintendent.
Critics fear the measure will lead to the legalization of recreational pot.
The bill allows medical marijuana to treat 10 serious illnesses and conditions, including cancer, HIV and AIDS, Lou Gehrig’s, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases, epilepsy, some spinal cord injuries and multiple sclerosis.
Only doctors will be able to prescribe the drug, and they will have to be trained and certified by the state. Patients will have to register with the state.
The bill makes it a felony for a doctor to knowingly prescribe medical marijuana to someone not eligible.
The law won’t go into effect for at least 18 months as the Department of Health develops regulations on dosage amounts, certifies doctors and licenses five organizations to grow and distribute the medical marijuana.
Assembly bill sponsor Richard Gottfried (D-Manhattan), who has pushed the issue for nearly two decades, hailed the victory.
“If the patient and physician agree that a severe debilitating or life-threatening condition should be treated with medical marijuana, it is cruel for government to stand in the way,” Gottfried said.
http://sol-reform.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Hamilton-Logo.jpg00SOL Reformhttp://sol-reform.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Hamilton-Logo.jpgSOL Reform2014-06-22 18:34:442014-06-22 18:39:46New York to legalize medical marijuana under new deal, Kenneth Lovett, NY Daily News
The Massachusetts Legislature is on the verge of finalizing a bill that will give alleged child sexual abuse victims an additional 32 years to file civil lawsuits, a move one specialist said will open the door to thousands of new cases.
The bill would extend the statute of limitations for filing suits against alleged perpetrators and, in future cases, the people or institution supervising them. Under the legislation, the victims would be able to file suits up to age 53, instead of the current limit of age 21.
The Senate passed the measure Thursday, after it was approved by the House Wednesday.
Lawmakers expect to send a bill to Governor Deval Patrick’s desk soon, after a few more procedural votes, said Senator William N. Brownsberger, the Senate cochairman of the Joint Committee on the Judiciary.
“We’re very glad we were able to get this done,” said Brownsberger. “It is going to protect children in the future. It really is.”
Carmen L. Durso, a lawyer for sexual abuse victims and a vocal supporter of the bill, also hailed its passage. “It will open the doors of the courthouse to thousands, literally thousands of people who have otherwise been excluded from being able to file suits,” Durso said by phone. “This will give them the opportunity to name their perpetrators and do what almost all of them want to do, which is make sure their perpetrators can’t get to other victims.”
Rosanne Sliney, 50, of Burlington, whose suit against her uncle was dismissed on statute-of-limitations grounds, said the legislation gives her hope she may get justice.
“My lawyer can contact the judge, say that these are new laws, we need to move forward to trial,” she said. “It will definitely give me a chance at justice and a fair fight against someone who destroyed me in my life.”
The landmark bill contains some important distinctions. In cases involving past abuse, for example, the provision extending the statute of limitations from age 21 to 53 would allow alleged victims to sue only the perpetrators, but not the alleged abuser’s supervisors and the institution that they worked or volunteered for.
The institutions would, however, be subject to the new rule and could be sued in cases of abuse that occur after the law passes. Institutions potentially exposed to lawsuits include churches, schools, youth centers, and other organizations.
In cases of repressed memory, the bill would give adults seven years to file claims against alleged perpetrators and their supervisors once they realize they were abused as children, an increase from the current three-year threshold.
David Clohessy, executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, called the bill a “very big step forward” but expressed disappointment with the provision that shields institutions from some retroactive claims.
Clohessy said his group is “saddened but not surprised that Catholic officials lobbied so hard to continue evading responsibility for child-molesting clerics.”
The Catholic Church, in particular, has been rocked by a sexual abuse crisis that exploded in Boston in 2002 and has led to dioceses in Massachusetts and elsewhere paying hundreds of millions of dollars in civil claims, straining budgets and forcing school and parish closings.
Asked to comment on the legislation, a spokesman for the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston released a statement from the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, which represents the state’s four Catholic bishops, that said the group supports the legislation.
“We, the bishops of the four dioceses of Massachusetts, recognize the suffering of survivors who have experienced sexual abuse and remain committed to assuring the safety of children entrusted to our care,” the statement said.
“For well over a decade, we have been utilizing comprehensive pastoral outreach programs for survivors and their families, have been vigilant in reporting claims, have worked closely with law enforcement, and continue to be dedicated to resolving cases in a just and responsible manner.”
The Catholic Conference added that the church has taken a number of steps to address the crisis, including background screening for tens of thousands of employees and volunteers, as well as the immediate removal of any cleric or other person credibly accused of abuse.
Mitchell Garabedian, an attorney for sexual abuse victims who is best known for filing a number of lawsuits against the Catholic Church, could not be reached for comment Thursday night.
BishopAccountability.org, an advocacy group for victims, echoed the sentiments of other advocates who wanted a stronger bill, even while praising the version that was passed.
In a statement, the group said: “The bill is far from perfect. It keeps the courthouse doors slammed shut to most of the thousands of child sexual abuse victims now age 53 or older. And it will do almost nothing to expose and hold accountable those supervisors and employers who already have been negligent, careless, or deceptive in managing offenders.”
But Durso, the lawyer for abuse victims, said that a compromise was better than nothing.
“The perfect bill would be no statute of limitations at all,” he said. “And sometimes you can’t let the perfect get in the way of the good and the useful.”
Jetta Bernier, executive director of Massachusetts Citizens for Children, a group that pushed for the changes, agreed with Durso’s assessment.
“We are fully aware that this is not the perfect bill, but we could not let the status quo continue,” she said.
Senate and House leaders released statements of support for the measure.
“The changes in this bill are essential for protecting the victims of sexual abuse and holding the perpetrators accountable for their actions,” Senate President Therese Murray said.
“I’m proud to join my colleagues in passing this bill that protects victims of sexual violence and better holds institutions accountable,” House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo said.
Patrick’s office declined to comment.
Material from the State House News Service was used in this report. Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen @globe.com.
http://sol-reform.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Hamilton-Logo.jpg00SOL Reformhttp://sol-reform.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Hamilton-Logo.jpgSOL Reform2014-06-22 17:58:592014-06-22 17:58:59Bill extends time limit on sexual abuse lawsuits, Travis Andersen, Derek J. Anderson and Jennifer Smith, Boston Globe
(WGGB) — Survivors of child sexual abuse are applauding a bill that recently passed the Massachusetts House and Senate.
The bill extends the statute of limitations for victims to file lawsuits against their abusers.
Kathy Picard of Ludlow is one of the prime movers behind this latest piece of legislation. For a long time, she repressed her abuse and finally feels that now she can begin the healing process.
“Mine…it was a family member that sexually abused me at a young age,” Picard explains.
Picard became a victim of sexual abuse by a family member at the age of 7 and the abuse lasted ten years.
She repressed the abuse until she came forward 21 years later.
“It’s impacted my life tremendously and it will always be a part of my life. Being a survivor of sexual abuse…it’s something that is always going to be part of my life.”
Under the current law, the statute of limitations had run out for her to file a lawsuit in Massachusetts against her abuser.
“It wasn’t until I was older – 28 years old – and once realizing that what had happened to me shouldn’t have happened, I was too late to file suit, so I had missed the statute of limitations to go forward,” Picard adds.
But the Mass. House and Senate have unanimously passed a bill to extend by more than 30 years the statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse.
Existing law gives victims until age 21 to file civil actions against their abusers. The new bill raises that age to 53 and that means Picard will now be able to take legal action against her abuser.
She says the healing process can now begin for her and says there are thousands of other sexual abuse victims across the state who may also behind their healing process.
“There are still people in the process of being healed, so I’m hoping that my case that will open the door and let others know they can go forward because the sooner they go forward it makes Massachusetts less victimized.”
The bill that passed unanimously in the House and Senate is now on the Governor’s desk awaiting his signature.
Picard hopes that will come soon.
Picard intends to take legal action against her accuser, now that the statute of limitations has been extended. She and her lawyer told ABC40 that as soon as the bill is signed into law by the Governor, they will file their civil suit in federal court in Springfield.
On other note, Picard will ask the Governor for the pen he uses to sign the bill which she says it so vitally important for her healing process.
http://sol-reform.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Hamilton-Logo.jpg00SOL Reformhttp://sol-reform.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Hamilton-Logo.jpgSOL Reform2014-06-22 17:17:062014-06-22 17:24:48Child Sex Abuse Survivor Reacts to Extension of Statute of Limitations, ABC News 40
Child Abuse Victims Stung By Albany Inaction, Shant Shahrigian, The Riversale Press
/in New York /by SOL ReformNEW YORK
The Riversale Press
By Shant Shahrigian
Posted 6/25/14
Horace Mann School graduate Joseph Cumming says it took him 34 years to fully realize his treatment at the hands of his music teacher Johannes Somary was sexual abuse. But by then, even if he had wanted to, it was far too late for him to take legal action. New York’s criminal and civil statute of limitations for sexual abuse of minors is five years after the victim turns 18.
After revelations of decades of abuse involving more than 30 victims at Horace Mann emerged in June 2012, the Bronx District Attorney’s office said the limitations prevented it from prosecuting any of the perpetrators.
The state legislature’s recent failure to take up the Child Victims Act — which would eliminate the criminal and civil statues of limitations for child sexual abuse and create a one-year window for past victims to seek justice — infuriated Mr. Cumming and other survivors.
They placed the blame on state Sen. Co-Majority Leader Jeff Klein, the leader of the breakaway Independent Democratic Conference (IDC), who decides which bills come to the floor of the senate in consultation with Republican Co-Majority Leader Dean Skelos.
–
http://riverdalepress.com/
SOL Reform 2014 Half-Year Roundup
/in New York /by SOL ReformHawaii and Massachusetts Lead the Way for Access to Justice for Child Sex Abuse Victims While the Worst States Do Nothing
This is another good year for the victims of child sex abuse in a number of states, including Hawaii, Massachusetts, and Florida, and it’s not over yet. It is also the year that the states with some of the worst statutes of limitations and most troubling sex abuse scandals—New York and Georgia–continue to sit on their hands.
While humankind has struggled with child sex abuse since time immemorial, we did not understand the dynamics of our trivialization of child sex abuse until the Boston Globe revealed in 2001 that respected Church leaders were creating safe havens for pedophiles. It was a short step from there to Penn State, the Boy Scouts, prestigious private schools, and many other organizations.
A critical reason we were in the dark is that survivors often need years, and even decades, to come forward. Kids don’t understand sex, statutory rape, or adults who care for them, groom them, and love them while they sexually abuse them. They are literally helpless.
Unwittingly, the legal system (here and abroad) abetted the problem with short SOLs that meant that perpetrators could access many victims without consequence because once a victim was ready to seek justice, the courthouse doors were locked. These SOLs also played into the hands of institutions intent on protecting their image, like the Catholic Church, Penn State, Horace Mann, Yeshiva University, and many others.
Starting in 2003, with California’s one-year “window”–during which the SOLs were eliminated for survivors even if they had expired–the United States has been at the forefront in the world for leveling the playing field for sex abuse victims by extending and eliminating SOLs, which simply permit victims to bring their cases to court. They still have to prove their case.
In recent years, one-third of the states has dramatically extended or eliminated the civil SOLs altogether, while nearly three-fourths have eliminated at least some of the relevant criminal SOLs. Bills were introduced in numerous states in 2014, including California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.
The Best So Far: Hawaii
Hawaii has become the most progressive state in the country when it comes to granting access to justice for child sex abuse victims—by removing the arbitrary SOL deadline victims have to get to court. It had already enacted a window, which revived SOLs for victims from April 2012 until April 2014. Now Governor Neil Abercrombie has signed a bill that extends that same window for two more years and eliminates the criminal SOLs going forward. That gives Hawaii a better window than even Delaware had, which had a 2-year window and eliminated both criminal and civil SOLs.
How did Hawaii do this? It was a righteous combination of the Women’s Legislative Caucus and the relative powerlessness of Hawaii’s Catholic Conference. Nor did it hurt that the cases filed during the window educated legislators, the Governor, and the public about the horrific harm done to Hawaii’s children, which no one knew until the lawsuits were filed. The cases against Jay Ram in particular should transform every legislator into a proponent of reviving and eliminating SOLs.
Great Progress Against Perpetrators While the Catholic Bishops Throw Their Own Victims Under the Bus: Massachusetts
The Massachusetts legislature joined the vanguard increasing access to justice for child sex abuse victims against their perpetrators this week by unanimously passing innovative SOL reform. Gov. Patrick Deval is expected to sign the bill in the near future. While this is a great step forward, the Catholic bishops’ fingerprints are on it. The new law increases the SOL for lawsuits against the abusers, but not the institutions that shielded them, among which is the Roman Catholic Church, as legislators there well know.
Massachusetts has taken the most innovative route this year, and other states should take note. Under the leadership of its relatively new Joint Judiciary Committee Chair, Senator William Brownsberger, for the first time since the crisis started, permitted an SOL civil reform measure to go forward. Rep. John Lawn energetically led the charge in the House. The new Massachusetts law is a testament to their persistent grit as well as the untiring efforts of Massachusetts survivors and child advocates.
Before now, Massachusetts halted sex abuse civil lawsuits at age 21 or three years after the victim discovered or should have discovered the connection between the abuse and current problems. The new law provides a retroactive, permanent extension to age 53 for suits against perpetrators (not the institutions who created the conditions for the abuse). Or, in English, it lets anyone who is 53 or under sue the person or persons who sexually abused them – even if their SOL already expired.
The Massachusetts law does provide a modest extension for survivors against institutions. It extends the discovery rule against institution-based abuse from 3 years to 7 years, and, like the extension to age 53 against perpetrators, it is retroactive. Thus, if someone discovered a connection between her current problems and the abuse over 3 years ago, but less than 7 years ago, the claim will be revived.
One need not be Einstein to figure out why there would be more generous SOLs against perpetrators than the institutions that made the abuse possible. The Catholic Conference (the lobbying arm of the bishops) in each state has invested heavily in trying to blocking access to justice for child sex abuse victims, and the bishops were at the table for this bill.
This Massachusetts development proves that the bishops remain ruthless in blocking reasonable retroactive SOLs against them. Why? On the surface it may appear it is the money, and that is what they usually say, but in fact it is the humiliating release of information still hidden in secret archives across the country–as the SOL windows have proved in California, Delaware, Hawaii and Minnesota. The Los Angeles archives, for example, demonstrated that Cardinal Roger Mahony actively shielded perpetrators from law enforcement despite his decades of protestations to the contrary. In Minnesota, there has been an avalanche of information about ongoing cover up even after the dioceses were required to improve their policies, endangering children until today.
Given most bishops’ typical block-all-SOL reform mindset, the Massachusetts development shows them acting with more integrity toward victims of incest and other close family predators. Perhaps Cardinal Sean O’Malley figured out, ahead of his brethren, that their self-protective lobbying in fact placed them on the side of the pedophiles and incestuous perpetrators. They simply had to stop lobbying against all sexual abuse survivors and future child victims. Accordingly, the Massachusetts bishops blinked and stepped back to permit more generous access to justice for victims at least against their perpetrators, but this new Massachusetts law spotlights them still throwing their own victims under the bus when it comes to their responsibility.
While this SOL law could have been better, if there is anything that the legislative process teaches us, it is that the perfect can be the enemy of the good. Now, for the next stage, the decent people of Massachusetts need to wake up and speak up to extend the SOL against institutions, because the buck finally stops in the pews and the voting booth.
A Good Future for Children with the Elimination of All Civil and Criminal SOLs: Florida
While Florida has yet to revive expired SOLs, and so cannot claim the mantle owned by Hawaii and Delaware, this year it eliminated the criminal SOLs for lewd or lascivious offenses committed upon or in the presence of a child less than 16 years old to add to its elimination of the civil and criminal SOLs in April 2010. For the children abused in Florida today, no arbitrary time line will prevent them from pressing charges or filing a lawsuit. Florida also has a relatively decent discovery rule and so a number of victims abused at least as far back as the 1990s can pursue civil justice.
Great Year for Pot, Pedophiles, and the Bishops: New York
Powerful and pricey New York lobbyist Patricia Lynch has successfully navigated the New York legislature to obtain a victory for medical marijuana. Governor Andrew Cuomo is expected to sign the bill, which is modeled on Colorado’s. At the same time, she has been credited with the New York bishops’ ongoing success in keeping their sex abuse victims out of court.
Assemblywoman Marge Markey has introduced a bill to increase victims’ access to justice for the past 8 years, and was able to get it passed in the Assembly 5 times. Lynch, on behalf of Cardinal Timothy Dolan–who sits on what must be the largest undisclosed secret archive in the country because of the stingy SOLs–and his fellow New York bishops, has halted the bill in the Senate every single year.
Everyone knows that if Governor Cuomo put this issue on his agenda, New York’s children might have a chance at safety, but he is nearly somnolent on it so far. Cuomo, the Senators, and Lynch ought to read the poll done by the National Center for Victims of Crime (“NCVC”), which shows that a significant majority of New Yorkers favor the victims on this issue, not the bishops. As one of the very worst states for victims in the country, New York has much to do.
The one ray of light in an otherwise dark sky for New York’s victims is that Cuomo recently lambasted the Democratic senators, like Sen. Jeffrey Klein, who have given the Republicans majority control without a majority in the Senate. (Only in New York could this happen.) Republicans in most states have a lousy record on protecting child sex abuse victims; they seem to spend more time on the unborn than they do on the hurting children who were born. Sen. Dean Skelos is a prime example and one of the members most dedicated to keeping child sex abuse victims out of court, particularly to protect the Catholic hierarchy.
One of the Worst SOL States Learns the Wages of Unfair SOLs: Georgia
Georgia sits with New York, Alabama, and Michigan as the worst states in the country for SOLs. This year, it became abundantly clear how bad it is. The Camden County District Attorney released a report in early March concluding that six men had filed credible allegations of serious and severe sex abuse victims by Pak’s Karate instructor, Craig Peeples, but all of their claims were out of statute.
Their civil claims are also well beyond Georgia’s parsimonious statute, because the survivors were in their early to mid thirties and Georgia shuts down civil claims at age 23. While these men bravely came forward and the District Attorney and Georgia Bureau of Investigation dutifully investigated, it was to no avail, and Georgia’s current law guarantees that Peeples can continue to train kids, and in fact still picks them up at the public schools in his karate school bus.
Last week, Thomas Ary, another Pak’s Karate instructor, was tried on charges of sexually abusing a 9-year-old student and a grandchild with whom he was sharing a bed. It is not unusual for institutions to have more than one perpetrator at work. Sadly, the jury deadlockedon the former and acquitted on the latter. If the young karate student can handle it, there is hope that the DA will try again. During the trial, Peeples took the stand, and invoked the Fifth Amendment when asked about his abuse of the men who had credibly accused him.
A bill introduced by Rep. Jason Spencer did not make progress last year, but Georgia had moved forward on the criminal side in 2012 when it eliminated the criminal SOL. Before that, the victim was blocked after age 23 at the latest! With most victims needing until their 30s, 40s and even 50s to come forward, expect calls for improvement on the civil side in Georgia in the future, given the manifest injustice pouring out of Camden County.
The Road Ahead
Every state should do what Hawaii or Delaware have done, and may well do so, as public knowledge about the facts of child sex abuse grows and legislators reach the tipping point where they just can’t defer to the Catholic bishops on the issue of child sex abuse any longer.
Until then, the Massachusetts model—if it applied to everyone who made the abuse happen, whether perpetrator or institution–would be a signal achievement in many states. The legislators of Alabama, Georgia, Michigan, and New York need to look beyond their borders for a better world for their children, because their current SOLs in contrast appear to have been drafted in the Stone Ages.
There are also plenty of other states, as well, with somewhat better laws, but that desperately need to revive claims for thousands and thousands of known victims, with Iowa, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania leading the way.
—
New Square educator charged with sexually abusing boy, Steve Lieberman,
/in New Jersey /by SOL ReformMoshe Menachem Taubenfeld faces a charge of second-degree course of sexual conduct, a felony count covering a variety of sexual acts over a period of time. The count carries a maximum prison sentence of seven years.
The indictment accuses Taubenfeld of sexually abusing the boy, who was under age 13 at the time, on multiple occasions between September 2001 and May 2006, District Attorney Thomas Zugibe said Friday.
While prosecutors declined to identify the young man, the reported victim spoke with The Journal News before Taubenfeld’s arrest in January by Ramapo police.
The boy, Laiby, said the abuse started Sept. 11, 2001, when he went to Taubenfeld seeking comfort after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, police said. The abuse allegedly continued until he turned 13 in 2006.
Laiby said he and his family reported the abuse about six years ago to New Square community religious leaders, who discouraged him from going to police.
His report echoed accounts of other New Square abuse victims, including a young man, Yossi, who had reported Taubenfeld’s brother, Herschel, to police in 2011. Herschel Taubenfeld pleaded guilty last year to one count of misdemeanor forcible touching, received six years probation and had to register as a sex offender.
In a January investigative report by The Journal News, Yossi and another accuser, Yehuda, described the indifference of New Square Hasidic Jewish leaders to children being sexually abused and said the leaders have created a culture in which victims are discouraged from going to police and abusers are protected.
Moshe Menachem Taubenfeld’s lawyer, Gerard Damiani, said his client denies the charges.
Zugibe said the sexual contact involving Laiby took place in Taubenfeld’s home, starting on a monthly basis before becoming weekly and then almost daily.
“The victim was a young child when the defendant first began subjecting him to what would become a five-year nightmare of sexual abuse,” Zugibe said. “His depraved actions changed the victim’s life forever by robbing him of his innocence. Such alleged conduct can not go unpunished.”
Taubenfeld has been released pending a future court date.
http://www.lohud.com/story/
New York to legalize medical marijuana under new deal, Kenneth Lovett, NY Daily News
/in New York /by SOL ReformALBANY — New York is poised to become the 23rd state to legalize medical marijuana.
Under the deal Gov. Cuomo and legislative Democrats announced Thursday, patients won’t be able to smoke the drug — instead, they’ll have to ingest it as food or through vaporization, oils or pills.
Cuomo, citing the state’s efforts to combat smoking, would not sign off on a deal unless it contained the ban on puffing.
“Medical marijuana has the capacity to do a lot of good for a lot of people who are in pain and suffering,” Cuomo said.
“At the same time, medical marijuana is a difficult issue because there are risks to public health and safety that have to be averted. I believe this bill is the right balance,” he said.
The Assembly was scheduled to to pass the bill in the predawn hours Friday and the Senate is expected to vote on it later in the day.
The Senate sponsor, Diane Savino (D-Staten Island), gave in on the smoking ban.
“If that becomes the only thing that stands in the way, you can’t say no to that,” she said.
Cuomo, who pushed a more limited program in January, said he decided to support a broader bill after winning safeguards.
Among them is a provision that the governor can suspend the program at any time on the advice of the health commissioner or state police superintendent.
Critics fear the measure will lead to the legalization of recreational pot.
The bill allows medical marijuana to treat 10 serious illnesses and conditions, including cancer, HIV and AIDS, Lou Gehrig’s, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases, epilepsy, some spinal cord injuries and multiple sclerosis.
Only doctors will be able to prescribe the drug, and they will have to be trained and certified by the state. Patients will have to register with the state.
The bill makes it a felony for a doctor to knowingly prescribe medical marijuana to someone not eligible.
The law won’t go into effect for at least 18 months as the Department of Health develops regulations on dosage amounts, certifies doctors and licenses five organizations to grow and distribute the medical marijuana.
Assembly bill sponsor Richard Gottfried (D-Manhattan), who has pushed the issue for nearly two decades, hailed the victory.
“If the patient and physician agree that a severe debilitating or life-threatening condition should be treated with medical marijuana, it is cruel for government to stand in the way,” Gottfried said.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-legalize-medical-marijuana-article-1.1836966#ixzz35OVwBjS0
Bill extends time limit on sexual abuse lawsuits, Travis Andersen, Derek J. Anderson and Jennifer Smith, Boston Globe
/in Massachusetts /by SOL ReformThe Massachusetts Legislature is on the verge of finalizing a bill that will give alleged child sexual abuse victims an additional 32 years to file civil lawsuits, a move one specialist said will open the door to thousands of new cases.
The bill would extend the statute of limitations for filing suits against alleged perpetrators and, in future cases, the people or institution supervising them. Under the legislation, the victims would be able to file suits up to age 53, instead of the current limit of age 21.
Lawmakers expect to send a bill to Governor Deval Patrick’s desk soon, after a few more procedural votes, said Senator William N. Brownsberger, the Senate cochairman of the Joint Committee on the Judiciary.
“We’re very glad we were able to get this done,” said Brownsberger. “It is going to protect children in the future. It really is.”
Carmen L. Durso, a lawyer for sexual abuse victims and a vocal supporter of the bill, also hailed its passage. “It will open the doors of the courthouse to thousands, literally thousands of people who have otherwise been excluded from being able to file suits,” Durso said by phone. “This will give them the opportunity to name their perpetrators and do what almost all of them want to do, which is make sure their perpetrators can’t get to other victims.”
Rosanne Sliney, 50, of Burlington, whose suit against her uncle was dismissed on statute-of-limitations grounds, said the legislation gives her hope she may get justice.
The landmark bill contains some important distinctions. In cases involving past abuse, for example, the provision extending the statute of limitations from age 21 to 53 would allow alleged victims to sue only the perpetrators, but not the alleged abuser’s supervisors and the institution that they worked or volunteered for.
The institutions would, however, be subject to the new rule and could be sued in cases of abuse that occur after the law passes. Institutions potentially exposed to lawsuits include churches, schools, youth centers, and other organizations.
In cases of repressed memory, the bill would give adults seven years to file claims against alleged perpetrators and their supervisors once they realize they were abused as children, an increase from the current three-year threshold.
David Clohessy, executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, called the bill a “very big step forward” but expressed disappointment with the provision that shields institutions from some retroactive claims.
Clohessy said his group is “saddened but not surprised that Catholic officials lobbied so hard to continue evading responsibility for child-molesting clerics.”
The Catholic Church, in particular, has been rocked by a sexual abuse crisis that exploded in Boston in 2002 and has led to dioceses in Massachusetts and elsewhere paying hundreds of millions of dollars in civil claims, straining budgets and forcing school and parish closings.
Asked to comment on the legislation, a spokesman for the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston released a statement from the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, which represents the state’s four Catholic bishops, that said the group supports the legislation.
“We, the bishops of the four dioceses of Massachusetts, recognize the suffering of survivors who have experienced sexual abuse and remain committed to assuring the safety of children entrusted to our care,” the statement said.
“For well over a decade, we have been utilizing comprehensive pastoral outreach programs for survivors and their families, have been vigilant in reporting claims, have worked closely with law enforcement, and continue to be dedicated to resolving cases in a just and responsible manner.”
The Catholic Conference added that the church has taken a number of steps to address the crisis, including background screening for tens of thousands of employees and volunteers, as well as the immediate removal of any cleric or other person credibly accused of abuse.
Mitchell Garabedian, an attorney for sexual abuse victims who is best known for filing a number of lawsuits against the Catholic Church, could not be reached for comment Thursday night.
BishopAccountability.org, an advocacy group for victims, echoed the sentiments of other advocates who wanted a stronger bill, even while praising the version that was passed.
In a statement, the group said: “The bill is far from perfect. It keeps the courthouse doors slammed shut to most of the thousands of child sexual abuse victims now age 53 or older. And it will do almost nothing to expose and hold accountable those supervisors and employers who already have been negligent, careless, or deceptive in managing offenders.”
But Durso, the lawyer for abuse victims, said that a compromise was better than nothing.
“The perfect bill would be no statute of limitations at all,” he said. “And sometimes you can’t let the perfect get in the way of the good and the useful.”
Jetta Bernier, executive director of Massachusetts Citizens for Children, a group that pushed for the changes, agreed with Durso’s assessment.
“We are fully aware that this is not the perfect bill, but we could not let the status quo continue,” she said.
Senate and House leaders released statements of support for the measure.
“The changes in this bill are essential for protecting the victims of sexual abuse and holding the perpetrators accountable for their actions,” Senate President Therese Murray said.
“I’m proud to join my colleagues in passing this bill that protects victims of sexual violence and better holds institutions accountable,” House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo said.
Patrick’s office declined to comment.
Material from the State House News Service was used in this report. Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen @globe.com.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/06/19/senate-passes-bill-give-alleged-sex-abuse-victims-more-time-file-lawsuits/m91An2iTb0EZSPdsioS4eI/story.html
Child Sex Abuse Survivor Reacts to Extension of Statute of Limitations, ABC News 40
/in Massachusetts /by SOL Reform(WGGB) — Survivors of child sexual abuse are applauding a bill that recently passed the Massachusetts House and Senate.
The bill extends the statute of limitations for victims to file lawsuits against their abusers.
Kathy Picard of Ludlow is one of the prime movers behind this latest piece of legislation. For a long time, she repressed her abuse and finally feels that now she can begin the healing process.
“Mine…it was a family member that sexually abused me at a young age,” Picard explains.
Picard became a victim of sexual abuse by a family member at the age of 7 and the abuse lasted ten years.
She repressed the abuse until she came forward 21 years later.
“It’s impacted my life tremendously and it will always be a part of my life. Being a survivor of sexual abuse…it’s something that is always going to be part of my life.”
Under the current law, the statute of limitations had run out for her to file a lawsuit in Massachusetts against her abuser.
“It wasn’t until I was older – 28 years old – and once realizing that what had happened to me shouldn’t have happened, I was too late to file suit, so I had missed the statute of limitations to go forward,” Picard adds.
But the Mass. House and Senate have unanimously passed a bill to extend by more than 30 years the statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse.
Existing law gives victims until age 21 to file civil actions against their abusers. The new bill raises that age to 53 and that means Picard will now be able to take legal action against her abuser.
She says the healing process can now begin for her and says there are thousands of other sexual abuse victims across the state who may also behind their healing process.
“There are still people in the process of being healed, so I’m hoping that my case that will open the door and let others know they can go forward because the sooner they go forward it makes Massachusetts less victimized.”
The bill that passed unanimously in the House and Senate is now on the Governor’s desk awaiting his signature.
Picard hopes that will come soon.
Picard intends to take legal action against her accuser, now that the statute of limitations has been extended. She and her lawyer told ABC40 that as soon as the bill is signed into law by the Governor, they will file their civil suit in federal court in Springfield.
On other note, Picard will ask the Governor for the pen he uses to sign the bill which she says it so vitally important for her healing process.