$25 Million Verdict in New York's First Child Victims Act Jury Trial

From 1970 to 1973, a boy who was roughly 12 years old when the abuse began was repeatedly sexually assaulted by Robert L. Eberhardt, the scoutmaster of his Boy Scouts of America troop in Cheektowaga, New York. The abuse continued for several years before stopping. Decades passed. The plaintiff, now in his sixties, had no legal avenue to sue because New York's civil statute of limitations had long expired.

New York's Child Victims Act, signed in 2019, changed that. The law opened a one-year lookback window allowing survivors of childhood sexual abuse to bring civil claims regardless of when the abuse occurred. In June 2020, attorneys at Lipsitz Green Scime Cambria filed suit on the plaintiff's behalf against Eberhardt, naming him as the sole defendant.

Eberhardt, by then 80 years old, did not appear in court to contest the claims. State Supreme Court Justice Mark Grisanti entered a default judgment finding him liable for the abuse in 2021. The case then proceeded to a jury trial solely on damages.

At trial, the Lipsitz Green team, led by Amy C. Keller and joined by Christina M. Croglio and Robert M. Corp, presented evidence of the lasting psychological harm the plaintiff suffered across five decades. On March 30, 2022, the Erie County jury returned a verdict of $25 million, allocating $15 million for pain and suffering and $10 million in punitive damages. Justice Grisanti noted from the bench that the result appeared to be the first jury verdict returned under the Child Victims Act in New York State.

Eberhardt, reached for comment after the verdict, dismissed it as 'a bunch of crap.' He faces at least 14 separate Child Victims Act lawsuits filed by other former scouts who allege he abused them between 1965 and 1981. No appeal reducing this $25 million award has been reported in public records.