Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf is a New York Plaintiff's personal injury law firm specializing in automobile accidents, construction accidents, medical malpractice, products liability, police misconduct and all types of New York personal injury litigation.

Articles Tagged with NY Child Victims Act

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New York Child sexual abuse lawyer Ben Rubinowitzpeter-blog-headshotHollywood Star Kevin Spacey sexually abused two children when they were only 14 years old. As with most pedophiles, Spacey groomed these children, took advantage of their youth and engaged in abusive sexual acts. Spacey’s conduct was not only improper, but it was a crime. “There is no justification for this conduct. These children were underage and had no ability to consent to Spacey’s sexual advances. Simply put, Spacey engaged in acts of, among other things, rape,” said Ben Rubinowitz who, along with Peter Saghir, has been handling cases of sexual abuse for years. “This action has been brought pursuant to New York’s Child Victims Act, a law that was recently passed allowing victims of sexual abuse to bring civil claims against abusers as well as institutions such as schools, churches and camps.  No matter when the abuse occurred, the law currently allows claims for sexual abuse that were once barred by the statute of limitations to be revived and filed through August 14, 2021,” said Saghir.  A copy of the complaint filed against Spacey can be found here.

Our firm is dedicated to representing victims of sexual abuse

Our goal has always been to make sure that victims of sexual abuse receive the justice to which they are entitled. Children, who are often the targets of sexual predators, are frequently afraid to report the abuse out of embarrassment, humiliation and fear of punishment or retaliation. As a result, these crimes have gone unpunished for years as pedophiles and institutions have been able to hide behind statutes of limitations that prevented lawsuits from being filed. “Now that the law has changed and victims of sexual abuse can bring claims in our civil courts, victims of abuse will finally be able to receive justice,” said Rubinowitz. “Our firm will work tirelessly to make sure victims of sexual abuse receive the justice they have been denied for years.”

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A catholic priest from New York City has been arrested after sharing pornographic material with a 15-year-old boy. Rev Francis Hughes was arrested yesterday morning by the FBI after he allegedly shared sexually explicit text messages and pictures with a teenager from Westchester. The FBI found half a dozen pictures that the priest and the boy exchanged since last February. The FBI also indicated that they connected several times on “Grindr”, a dating app for gay, bi and trans people. The priest asked the teen “How would you like to be spoiled by your grandpa?” and suggested to make the relationship “a regular thing”.

The 65 year old priest told the FBI that he knew that the boy was underage. He also admitted that he previously met a teen boy on school ground in Queens and had sex with him. He also tried multiple times to have sexual relationships with other boys.

Father Francis Hughes was removed from his post of pastor at the St. Pancras Roman Catholic Church in Glendale, Queens.

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Linda Rosenthal Sponsor of the NY Child Victim Act
Child sexual abuse victims in New York State and their advocates are expecting Governor Cuomo to sign a bill extending the Child Victims Act look-back window to August 14 2021.

The NY Child Victim Act was enacted on August 14 2019, allowing victims of child sexual abuse to bring a lawsuit against their abusers until the victim reaches the age of 55 year old. For those who are older than 55 year old and suffered sexual abuse in their childhood, the new law came with a one year look-back window during which any child sexual abuse victim in New York State, no matter their actual age and when the abuse occured, could file a lawsuit against their oppressor and/or the institution that hired them such as religious institutions, schools, boy scouts, etc.

Court services reduced to essential proceedings online during Coronavirus lock-down prevented child sexual abuse victims to file a lawsuit