On June 28, 2024, New York State Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law A6138, which clarifies that individuals bringing untimely or inadequately filed lawsuits for sexual offenses revived by the Adult Survivors Act (ASA) under three other laws are not required to file a notice of claim or notice of intention to file a claim beforehand when such suits are brought against the Government. 

While the ASA provided that sexual offenses claims can be revived even if the statute of limitations period passed or a notice of claim went unfiled, the ASA did not directly amend the specific laws such revived suits are brought under to eliminate these procedural hurdles. 

The Bill clarifies that individuals bringing procedurally flawed claims revived by the ASA under the Court of Claims Act, General Municipal Law, and Education Law, specifically, are not required to file a notice of claim or intention to file a notice of claim prior.

This clarification went into effect immediately and applies to lawsuits either pending on or brought after June 28, 2024.

Sex offense victims can now bring lawsuits in New York State even if they were previously outside of the statute of limitations or otherwise barred from not timely filing notices, etc. 

Stated otherwise, expired sex offense claims have been revived by S66A, the Adult Survivors Act.

The legislation applies to survivors of sexual offenses who were adults (i.e., 18 or older) at the time of the alleged sexual offense.

It is important that victims realize that they will only have a ONE YEAR window to bring claims so they must contact an attorney immediately and get the ball rolling now. Of note, that one year window starts on November 24, 2022 so there is time for your attorney to get all their ducks in a row and bring a strong case.