City gets a warning Lawyer says it could be hit with 17 child sex abuse suits
The city government is potentially facing 17 new child sexual abuse lawsuits and tens of millions of dollars in legal exposure, a Manhattan law firm revealed in a recent letter to the city comptroller.
In Friday’s letter, lawyer Jennifer Freeman tells Comptroller Scott Stringer (inset) her clients plan on filing “at least” 17 lawsuits against the city and calls out the city Education Department and the Administration for Children’s Services specifically for past abuse.
“A worldwide spotlight has now been placed on the wrongdoing of major religious institutions and youth organizations,” Freeman wrote Stringer. “What has remained under the radar so far, however, is the decadesold abuse of children by adults working for their own government. Indeed, while in the care of the City of New York, our clients suffered egregious sexual abuse.” Freeman did not touch on specific allegations in her letter, but revealed details from eight of the 17 cases to the Daily News.
In one case, a woman who was 6 in the 1970’s alleges her foster care father beat her, masturbated in front of her and touched her inappropriately. She was allegedly placed in his home after being referred to the New York Foundling charity by the Administration for Children’s Services. The woman claims she reported the abuse and was removed from the foster home, but was later returned there, where abuse continued.
She’s not the only victim who claims her ordeal began with ACS. One man alleges that in the early 1960s, when he was between 10 and 13, a foster care counselor at the Woodycrest Five Points Child Care center in the Bronx orally and anally raped him.
Another man claims other kids physically and sexually abused him in 1986 and 1987 at McDougal Diagnostic, a Brooklyn foster care center.
But not all of Freeman’s cases center around children who went through ACS.
A man who was 11 in the late 1960s alleges a male teacher at Public School 111 in Brooklyn pulled him out of class, brought him to an empty classroom and performed oral sex on him. He did not report the abuse at the time, according to Freeman.
Another man accused a teacher at PS 85 in the Bronx of raping him in 1977 and 1978.
A woman claimed that in 1968 a teacher at PS 190 in Brooklyn held her after class to wash blackboards and pressed his penis into her face on several occasions. A second woman claims that when she was a girl in 1986 and 1987, a teacher at PS 30 in Manhattan forced her to perform oral sex on him.
Freeman has not yet received a response from Stringer’s office.
In most liability cases against the city, accusers are required to file notices of claim with the comptroller 180 days prior to filing a lawsuit against the city. But under the new state Child Victims Act, accusers who claim to have been abused when they were children are not required to file such notices.
Stringer spokeswoman Hazel Crampton-Hays said the comptroller’s office “will do our due diligence throughout this process to ensure a fair and thorough review.”
James Marsh, a colleague of Freeman’s at the Marsh Law Firm, said that while Freeman’s letter is not a notice of claim and not required under the Child Victims Act, it gives the city the opportunity to settle the cases before lawsuits are filed — which he intends to do before the end of the year. One or more settlements could save the city money and the victims from having to relive their trauma. “It’s a win-win,” he said. A city Law Department spokesman said the city “will review the complaints if they are filed.”