A new legal window is now open in New York City, giving survivors of sexual and gender-motivated violence another opportunity to file civil lawsuits against alleged abusers and the institutions that may have enabled them.<\/p>\n
The law reopens the city\u2019s Gender-Motivated Violence Act lookback window for 18 months. It applies to claims that occurred before Jan. 9, 2022.<\/p>\n
For Carmine Megaro, the law could be life-changing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I deserve justice,\u201d Megaro said. \u201cI\u2019ve lost so much because of what happened as a result of the diocese that I\u2019m ready for justice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Megaro first came to News 12 last summer, alleging that he was 19 when a priest he trusted sexually assaulted him. When he later reported the allegation to police and tried to file a case civilly, he was told the statute of limitations had expired.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea of statute of limitations is just absurd, especially on sex crimes,\u201d Megaro said. \u201cEspecially on sex crimes where it takes the victim time to face the reality of what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
The bill was sponsored by City Councilmember Selvena Brooks-Powers. It clarifies that survivors can sue not only individuals, but also institutions that created environments where abuse occurred.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we found is there have been institutions that have created an environment that made these offenses possible,” Brooks-Powers said. “Just hearing some of the testimonies and stories from survivors have been really heartbreaking to see and to hear and to understand the long-term damage that it’s done. They deserve to be able to hold everyone that played a role accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n
That distinction is important for Megaro.<\/p>\n
The Diocese of Brooklyn found his claims against Father Philip Pizzo credible. However, until now, Megaro did not have a clear civil path forward.<\/p>\n
A law firm is now reviewing his case.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m extremely grateful because I never thought I would even tell my story \u2014 nonetheless be found credible, nonetheless be believed and heard,\u201d Megaro said.<\/p>\n
Megaro says he hopes other survivors will take advantage of the new window.<\/p>\n
\u201cTell your story,” Megaro said. “Don\u2019t be afraid. It\u2019s not your fault,\u201d he said. \u201cYou could be encouraging other victims that were affected in the same way you were.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 18-month window is now open.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new legal window is now open in New York City, giving survivors of sexual and gender-motivated violence…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":153068,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9096,56550,9,56,63,65,64,5474,3019],"class_list":{"0":"post-153067","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-abuse","9":"tag-brooklyn-diocese","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-ny","12":"tag-nyc","13":"tag-nyc-headlines","14":"tag-nyc-news","15":"tag-sexual-abuse","16":"tag-sexual-assault"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}