$100 Million CVA Verdict: Largest in New York History for Childhood Sexual Abuse

For four years, beginning when she was 12 years old, a Buffalo woman was repeatedly sexually abused by Joseph King, a man her family trusted as a close friend. The abuse continued until she was 16. By the time she reached adulthood, she had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and faced relationship difficulties that a clinical therapist testified would persist throughout her life.

New York's Child Victims Act, passed in 2019, opened a lookback window allowing survivors of past abuse to sue regardless of when the abuse occurred. The law gave people like this survivor a path to court that had previously been closed by the statute of limitations. Lipsitz Green Scime Cambria attorney Robert Corp filed suit on her behalf under that window.

At trial, Corp presented testimony from the survivor and from a clinical therapist who laid out the lasting psychological toll of the abuse. The jury heard four years of documented harm that began in childhood and rippled into every aspect of the woman's adult life.

On May 1, 2023, the jury returned a verdict of $100 million: $30 million for past damages, $20 million for future damages, and $50 million in punitive damages. Corp called it the largest verdict in New York State history under the Child Victims Act.

No reduction or remittitur of the award has been reported as of the date of this publication.