Floodgate of Lawsuits from Child Sex Abuse Victims Overwhelm NYC Institutions

Two weeks ago, the Child Victims Act was put into practice in New York, reopening the legal window for the year on past child molestation cases that were prevented by the statute of limitation. Already, 570 lawsuits have been filed. One Manhattan hospital, where a serial predator practiced for decades, has already settled with over 200 victims, even before their claims reached a court.

As reported by the NY Post, at Rockefeller University Hospital, the deceased pedophile pediatrician Reginald Archibald may have abused over 1,000 children. A rush of cases brought against the hospital has already been “resolved” via settlements, said lawyers Mariann Wang and Paul Mones. They did not disclose details of the settlements. Archibald’s twisted abuse, is not the only issue. Last week, a suit was filed against Dr. Barry Dworkin for allegedly molested an 11-year-old patient in 1977 while working alongside Archibald at Rockefeller U. Dworkin, now a professor emeritus at Penn State, did not comment. A Penn State spokesman said the “deeply troubling” accusation predates Dworkin’s time at the school, but said they would look into his employment history.

Rockefeller University in Manhattan, which declined to comment, is among the big institutions expected to have numerous lawsuits filed against it. Other such institutions include the Catholic Church, the Boy Scouts, and public and private schools. Nobody knows how much these institutions could be forced to pay out to victims who don’t settle and do end up in court, if their allegations are proved to be true. “I would not be surprised if it was $1 billion plus,” said Manhattan attorney Jennifer Freeman of the Marsh Law Firm. “This is decades of abuse we’re talking about.”