New York State is moving to dismiss approximately 500 prison sexual assault lawsuits filed under the Adult Survivors Act. Lawyers for the state are asking judges to throw out these cases based on minor clerical technicalities and archaic 1930s-era filing requirements, according to New York Focus.
The push by state attorneys targets the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, seeking to avoid billions of dollars in potential liabilities tied to decades of alleged custodial abuse. While the Adult Survivors Act was designed to address the trauma of survivors, the state’s legal defense relies on strict exactness regarding dates and locations.
The Impact of Clerical Errors on Crucial Survivors’ Claims
Those rigid technical requirements have already begun to shut survivors out of the courtroom. An egregious example involves plaintiff Ernastiaze Moore. His lawsuit was tossed out by Judge Catherine Schaewe after a single-year typo appeared in his complaint—an identical mistake that correction department staff had actually made in their own internal institutional reports.
What this young woman has been forced to endure is horrific and unacceptable. I’m holding her in my heart and in my prayers.To her, and to all survivors: you’re not alone. We stand with you.https://t.co/az4ViQwgy1
— https://x.com/NewYorkStateAG/status/2104696012619305306
Video evidence in Moore’s case showed him screaming as guards sexually assaulted him. Despite that footage, the court ruled the minor typographical error to be a jurisdictional defect.
As managing attorney Konstantin Yelisavetskiy of the law firm Slater Slater Schulman noted, without changing the statutes, “hundreds of abuse survivors risk being denied the day in court that the ASA was designed to guarantee them.”
Lawmakers Introduce Bills to Protect Prison Abuse Plaintiffs from Procedural Dismissals
The firm Slater Slater Schulman currently represents more than 1,200 people alleging prison abuse under the legislation. In response to the state’s aggressive dismissals, lawmakers have introduced bills intended to exempt survivors from these procedural stumbling blocks.
Meanwhile, the Attorney General’s office continues utilizing absolute exactness standards to shield the criminal-legal apparatus from accountability. Without legislative intervention, hundreds of plaintiffs face the permanent closure of courthouse doors over paperwork errors.
