Child Victim Act plaintiffs may challenge sex abuse that took place outside New York

This case is brought under the Child Victims Act, which the State Legislature recently adopted to re-open the statute of limitations for minor children who suffered sexual abuse years ago. The plaintiff alleges that, after she moved to New York City as a 16 year-old child model, the modeling agency sent her to Paris to love with one of its executives, who raped her. This happened in 1986. Here is the issue: can plaintiff bring this case even if the sexual abuse took place in Paris? The answer is yes.

The case is Sutton v. Tapscott, issued on November 4, more than a year after the court heard oral argument. The delay in issuing this ruling arises from the uncertainty whether CVA plaintiffs can sue in cases like this: where the abuse took place outside the State of New York. The district court held that the plain language of the CVA prohibits such cases from being filed unless the abuse took place in-state, reasoning that the statute only prohibits conduct "which would constitute a sexual offense" as defined under New York law, and that New York criminal law defines an "offense' as conduct occurring withing the boundaries of the State of New York.

That is not how other courts have interpreted the CVA, however, including intermediate appellate courts in New York. The First Department has ruled in favor of the plaintiff-victims in these cases, as have the Second and Fourth Departments. Here is what the First Department said:

In Samuel W. v. United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, the First Department explained that “New York’s criminal statutes’ territorial limitations are . . . not a basis for excluding claims under the CVA” and that section 214-g’s “plain language revived ‘every’ covered ‘civil claim or cause of action’ that would have been properly brought in New York in the first instance,” including claims based on the out-of-state sexual abuse of a plaintiff who “was a New York resident at the time the cause of action accrued.” 194 N.Y.S.3d 25, 26–27 (1st Dep’t 2023).

The Court of Appeals (Sullivan, Lee and Carney) defers to the appellate division rulings. Normally, when the Second Circuit has a difficult issue of state law, it considers whether the certify the issue to the New York Court of Appeals for a definitive ruling. That was not necessary here because three of the four appellate divisions in New York have already agreed on a definitive interpretation.