Circuit Court certifies sex-abuse issue to the New York State Court of Appeals

The Me-Too movement led to new laws allowing sex abuse victims to sue their abusers long after the statute of limitations had expired. In New York, the Legislature passed the Child Victims Act. But years earlier, in New York City, the City Council had already enacted the Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Prevention Act (VGMVPA). But the laws might conflict with each other, creating different time-frames to open up old cases. What do we do about this?

The case is Parker v. Alexander, issued on March 23. In 2000, New York City enacted the VGMVPA, which allows sex abuse/violence victims to sue their abusers within a seven-year statute of limitations. Under the state law (CVA) enacted in 2019, a one-year revival period was established, allowing minors to revive stale claims within that limited window. A year later, the Legislature extended that time period by another year. As the Court of Appeals puts it, "the CVA's revival period thus covers a period that is substantially earlier than the period of revival for claims under the VGMVPL." In 2022, since the COVID pandemic reduced in-person services and prevented victims from filing their lawsuits, the New York City Council amended that law to provide an additional two years to bring their lawsuits.

What it means is that the City law is more generous than the State law for reviving old claims. That distinction affects this case, in which a woman sues the Alexander brothers for alleged sex abuse under the City law but would be unable to do so under the State law. The defendants argue that the State law preempts the City law, as the State is superior to the City when it comes to setting the rules and statutes of limitations. If the defendants are right, then the City law, at least as to this case, is a nullity. 

The Second Circuit (Lohier, Cabranes and Jacobs) notes that both sides have powerful arguments for and against their positions. Both sets of laws regulate slightly different conduct. The First Department said in 2021 that the statute of limitations under the City law was not preempted by State law because the City law focuses on gender-motivated violence, and the State law focuses on a narrower class of cases: certain sexual offenses.

The problem is the New York appellate courts have not yet resolved this dispute. Since this puzzle raises state law issues, the Second Circuit will not definitively resolve such untested issues without giving its New York State counterpart, the Court of Appeals, an opportunity to weigh in on this matter through an advisory opinion that will then inform the Second Circuit's ruling in this case. So the Second Circuit has certified this case to the New York Court of Appeals for that purpose. If the State Court of Appeals decides to take on this issue (and it probably will), it will have separate briefing and oral argument and then issue a ruling, probably sometime in 2027. At that point, its federal counterpart will return to this case.