Tolmage, Peskin, Harris, Falick's Blog

In the latest high-profile case that spotlights New York’s Child Victims Act that allows decades-old sexual assault cases to get their day in court, a former figure skater has filed a civil lawsuit against a highly regarded coach for misconduct in the 1970s.

In the federal case filed in Buffalo, Craig Maurizi – a once-promising competitive skater now in his 50s – seeks $10 million from coach Richard Callaghan and three figure skating organization co-defendants – the Buffalo Skating Club, the Professional Skaters Association and the U.S. Figure Skating Association. Maurizi initially came forward in 1999 with his accusations against Callaghan.

As part of the Boy Scouts of America’s bankruptcy proceedings, a November 16th deadline has been set for survivors to file claims of sexual abuse. The court has approved a “proof of claim” form. Any survivors who intend to make a claim must complete this form and file it with the court.

You must file a proof of claim form before the November deadline. Your claim will be forever barred if you fail to meet the deadline, even if you live in a state where the statute of limitations doesn’t apply to claims of childhood sexual abuse.

The troubles continue for the Boy Scouts of America and will not stop until all matters related to its decades-long sexual abuse of thousands of boys concludes. But when will that happen? Not any time soon, especially with recent lawsuits in upstate New York.

Filed on May 18, the nine lawsuits against Boy Scout councils in the state are the latest of what promises to be hundreds more legal cases against the organization. Plaintiffs in the cases were Scouts decades ago and allege sexual abuse from scoutmasters and leaders. The organization faces many more lawsuits throughout New York, New Jersey, California and other states.

Sexual abuse in childhood is far more common than most people realize. Since the New York Child Victims Act went into effect last August, more than 1,300 victims have come forward, filing lawsuits under the Act’s one-year window of time for pursuing justice. And that number likely represents only a small fraction of adults who were sexually abused as children.

While many of those claims involve abuse that happened years or even decades ago, child sexual abuse remains a widespread problem. According to The Advocacy Group, a staggering 1 in 3 girls – and 1 in 5 boys – experience sexual abuse before the age of 18.