The New York Child Victims Act, signed into law on February 14, 2019, gives survivors of childhood sexual abuse until their 55th birthday to file a civil lawsuit and eliminates the criminal statute of limitations for several serious sex offenses against children. A temporary window that revived already-expired civil claims closed on August 14, 2021, but the permanent age-55 deadline is still in force for anyone whose claim had not yet expired when the law took effect.1New York State Senate. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules 214-G – Certain Child Sexual Abuse Cases
Who Can File a Claim
Any person who was sexually abused before turning 18 can bring a civil action. The law reaches conduct that would qualify as a sexual offense under New York Penal Law Article 130, incest, or the use of a child in a sexual performance.1New York State Senate. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules 214-G – Certain Child Sexual Abuse Cases
You can sue the individual who committed the abuse. You can also sue institutions that had a duty to protect you: private schools, religious organizations, foster care agencies, hospitals, and youth programs are all valid defendants.
Government entities are not exempt either. Public school districts, state-run facilities, and municipal agencies can be sued under the Act. New York normally requires a “notice of claim” against a government body within 90 days of the incident, which is impossible for abuse that surfaces years or decades later. The CVA explicitly overrides that requirement, which had been one of the largest procedural barriers for survivors of abuse in public institutions.1New York State Senate. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules 214-G – Certain Child Sexual Abuse Cases
Successor liability applies. If the institution that employed the abuser was later acquired by or merged into another organization, the successor generally inherits the underlying liabilities. A school or youth group that changed hands years ago is not automatically out of reach.
The Civil Deadline: Age 55
Before the CVA, survivors had to file a civil lawsuit by age 23. The law permanently extended that deadline to age 55.2New York Courts. Statute of Limitations Timetable A person abused at age 10 now has roughly 45 years to decide whether to pursue civil litigation.
This deadline is permanent, not a temporary measure. It applies to anyone who was under 23 on February 14, 2019, meaning their old deadline had not yet passed. If you are under 55 today and were abused as a child in New York, you still have time to file.
Criminal Prosecution Timelines
Criminal deadlines were changed separately, and the details matter. New York eliminated the statute of limitations entirely for certain serious offenses against children: rape in the first degree, criminal sexual acts in the first degree, aggravated sexual abuse in the first degree, course of sexual conduct against a child in the first degree, and incest in the first degree. These can now be prosecuted at any time, regardless of when the conduct occurred.3New York State Senate. New York Criminal Procedure Law 30.10 – Timeliness of Prosecutions; Periods of Limitation
For other sexual offenses against children, the clock does not start until the victim turns 23 or the abuse is reported to law enforcement or the statewide child abuse registry, whichever comes first.3New York State Senate. New York Criminal Procedure Law 30.10 – Timeliness of Prosecutions; Periods of Limitation In practice, felony-level offenses with a five-year prosecution window can be charged until the victim turns 28, and misdemeanor-level offenses with a two-year window until the victim turns 25.2New York Courts. Statute of Limitations Timetable
The Revival Window Is Closed
The most widely discussed feature of the CVA was a temporary revival window that let survivors of any age file civil lawsuits that had already expired under the old age-23 rule. The window opened on August 14, 2019, and was extended by a year after the pandemic disrupted court operations. It closed on August 14, 2021.4Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence. Extension of Child Victims Act Revival Window
During the window, an earlier dismissal of a lawsuit as time-barred could not be used to block a new filing.1New York State Senate. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules 214-G – Certain Child Sexual Abuse Cases That opportunity is over. If your claim had already expired before February 14, 2019, and you did not file during the revival period, you can no longer bring that civil lawsuit. The permanent age-55 deadline applies only to survivors whose claims had not yet expired when the law took effect.
If the Abuse Happened When You Were an Adult
New York passed a companion statute, the Adult Survivors Act, for people who were sexually abused at age 18 or older. It created a similar one-year revival window that opened in late 2022 and closed in late 2023. The Adult Survivors Act made no permanent changes to statutes of limitations, and there is no equivalent of the CVA’s age-55 extension for adult survivors. If that window has passed, your options depend on whether the standard civil statute of limitations for your specific claim has run out.
What You Can Recover
Damages fall into two broad categories. Compensatory damages cover tangible losses such as therapy, medical expenses, lost wages, and other out-of-pocket costs, along with intangible harm like pain and suffering, emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment of life.
Punitive damages are separate and are aimed at punishing the defendant rather than compensating you. They are most common where an institution knowingly allowed abuse to continue, covered it up, or transferred an abuser into a new position with access to children. The standard is high: you must show the defendant acted with willful disregard for your safety, not simply that they were negligent. New York does not cap punitive damages by statute in sexual abuse cases, so the amount is left to the jury’s discretion.
Expert witnesses shape damages. Trauma psychologists frequently testify about how childhood abuse affects memory, behavior, and long-term emotional health, why survivors often delay reporting, and what ongoing treatment costs look like.
Tax Treatment of a Recovery
Most CVA settlements and judgments are not taxable at the federal level. Under IRC Section 104(a)(2), damages received on account of personal physical injuries or physical sickness are excluded from gross income, whether paid as a lump sum or in periodic payments, and whether they come from a court judgment or a negotiated agreement.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 104 – Compensation for Injuries or Sickness
Sexual abuse involves physical contact, so CVA claims generally qualify, and emotional distress damages that flow from the physical abuse are also excluded. Any portion allocated to punitive damages is taxable as ordinary income.6Internal Revenue Service. Tax Implications of Settlements and Judgments How the settlement agreement characterizes each portion of the payment matters, so work with a tax professional on the allocation language.
How To File
A CVA lawsuit begins with a Summons and Complaint filed in New York Supreme Court. The complaint identifies the parties, describes what happened, and states the damages sought. Most counties file electronically through NYSCEF. The filing fee for a new index number is $210.7New York Courts. New York State Filing Fees
After the court assigns an index number, you must serve the defendant. Service has to comply with New York’s rules for personal delivery, and many plaintiffs hire a private process server, typically $20 to $150 per attempt. Once served, a defendant has 20 days to respond if the papers were personally delivered within New York, or 30 days if service was completed by an alternative method or outside the state.8New York State Senate. New York Code CVP 3012 – Service of Pleadings and Demand for Complaint
A judge is assigned after filing and will schedule preliminary conferences that set deadlines for discovery, depositions, and motions. The strength of a claim is often built before filing. Medical and therapy records, school enrollment records, employment records of the abuser, and any contemporaneous documentation all matter. This is where working with an attorney who handles these cases routinely pays off.
Filing Under a Pseudonym
Many survivors want to keep their identity private. New York courts have discretion to allow a plaintiff to proceed as “Jane Doe” or “John Doe,” but permission is not automatic. Courts balance the survivor’s privacy interest against the public’s right to open proceedings and the defendant’s right to a fair process. Factors that favor anonymity include the sensitive nature of the claim, the risk of additional harm from identification, and whether the plaintiff’s identity has been kept confidential up to that point.
Results have been mixed. Some trial courts have granted pseudonym requests in CVA cases; appellate courts have sometimes reversed those decisions. If privacy matters to you, raise it with your attorney early so a formal motion can be prepared before the case becomes public.
What an Attorney Costs
Nearly all CVA cases are handled on a contingency fee. The attorney collects a percentage of the recovery, and if there is no recovery, you owe no legal fees. New York’s Appellate Divisions cap contingency fees in personal injury cases. The most common arrangement is a flat percentage not exceeding 33⅓% of the total recovery.9New York State Unified Court System. Section 1015.15 – Contingent Fees in Claims and Actions for Personal Injury
An alternative sliding scale is also permitted: 50% on the first $1,000, 40% on the next $2,000, 35% on the next $22,000, and 25% on anything above $25,000. On larger recoveries, the sliding scale can produce a lower effective percentage than the flat one-third. Fees above these amounts require written court approval and a showing of extraordinary circumstances.9New York State Unified Court System. Section 1015.15 – Contingent Fees in Claims and Actions for Personal Injury
There are also costs beyond the attorney’s fee: filing fees, process server fees, expert witnesses, deposition transcription, and copying. In a contingency arrangement, the attorney often advances these and deducts them from the final recovery. Ask whether costs come out before or after the attorney’s percentage is calculated, because that sequence changes your net.
Mediation and Settlement
Most CVA cases settle before trial. Mediation is a common path, particularly for institutional defendants like religious organizations and school districts that want to avoid public proceedings. A neutral third party facilitates negotiation, and the process is confidential. Settlement can resolve a case in months rather than years.
The tradeoff is compromise. A survivor may accept less than a jury might award; the defendant avoids the risk of a larger verdict and public exposure. A mediated settlement is enforceable in court as a contract, and once you sign, you typically cannot reopen the claim for additional compensation later. Have an attorney review any proposed agreement before you sign.
When the Defendant Files for Bankruptcy
The volume of CVA lawsuits pushed several major institutional defendants into bankruptcy. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre filed for Chapter 11 in October 2020 in response to CVA claims, and it was not the only New York diocese to do so. The Boy Scouts of America filed for bankruptcy nationally, which affected CVA claims against local councils in New York.
When a defendant files, an automatic stay halts pending lawsuits against that entity. Claims are then channeled into the bankruptcy process, where a trust is typically established to pay survivors. Amounts distributed through a trust are often less than what a survivor might have recovered in an individual suit, because the funds are divided among all claimants. Debts arising from willful and malicious injury to another person are generally not dischargeable in bankruptcy, which gives survivors leverage over the terms of any trust or reorganization plan.
If your claim involves an institution in bankruptcy, you may need to file a proof of claim by a court-set deadline. Missing that deadline can permanently forfeit your right to compensation from the bankruptcy estate, so track those dates closely if your defendant is in or approaching bankruptcy.