Dismissal of Sex Abuse Case against Yeshiva Upheld

By Mark Hamblett
New York Law Journal
September 5, 2014

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It didn't take long for a federal appeals court to hold that the statute of limitations had since expired on claims by dozens of former students that they had been sexually abused by a former principal and two others at Yeshiva University High School for Boys.

One week after oral arguments, Judges Reena Raggi (See Profile), Guido Calabresi (See Profile) and Denny Chin (See Profile) ruled the statute was not tolled by the plaintiffs' belated realization of an alleged school conspiracy to cover up the abuse by one-time principal George Finkelstein and a former teacher and former student at the school.

The court held in Twersky v. Yeshiva University, 14-365-cv, that the Title IX claims of some 34 plaintiffs who were seeking $680 million in damages were "correctly dismissed as untimely" by Southern District Judge Koeltl (See Profile).

On Aug. 28, the three judges grilled plaintiffs' lawyer Kevin Mulhearn on his contention that Koeltl erred in February by dismissing the case brought against Yeshiva and former high-ranking officials for deliberate indifference to the predations of Finkelstein, ex-teacher Macy Gordon and former student Richard Andron, a friend of Finkelstein's.