With hundreds, perhaps thousands of lawsuits likely over child sex abuse in New York state, the judicial system has been gearing up to handle the wave of expected cases.
There are two New York state Supreme Court justices in the 7th judicial district, which includes the Rochester area, who will be focused on dealing with these cases.
That’s according to Craig Doran, the administrative judge for the district, who said that Judges Charles Schiano and Judith Sinclair are among the judges statewide who have received special training to deal with the anticipated lawsuits.
He said that a regional judge in Buffalo will handle pre-trial issues.
“Parallel to that, judges Schiano and Sinclair will be implementing some alternative dispute resolution measures to try to work on resolving some of the cases before trial,” Doran said.
Doran said it’s possible that the judges may be able to help mediate settlements in some of these lawsuits.
He said the judicial system is ready to process these cases efficiently.
“These cases come with their own set of challenges, emotional challenges; many of these things occurred a number of years ago and these judges will be prepared to handle these cases in a manner that respects the needs of the litigants and certainly takes into consideration our overarching mantra here, which is to be as customer service oriented as we can possibly be, Doran said.
There are dozens of other judges across the state also ready to handle the flurry of lawsuits made possible by the Child Victims Act which makes it easier for victims of childhood sexual abuse to sue their alleged abusers. Wednesday was the first day of a year-long legal window to file those suits.
