ROCHESTER (NY)
WHAM-TV, Ch. 13 [Rochester NY]
August 29, 2023
By Jackie Napier
Tara Yellen graduated from Brighton High School in 1990. She said it took her decades to process the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of a former teacher.
In 2020, Yellen filed a lawsuit against the district under the Child Victims Act (CVA), which extended the statute of limitations for survivors of child sexual abuse, resulting in more than 10,000 cases filed in New York State.
Yellen was awarded what is believed to be the single biggest CVA settlement in Monroe County history.
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“It’s not just about the money, but money does have a lot of power in our society, and it sends a major message about what is OK, not OK, and what is going to be OK in the future,” Yellen explained. “It validated the struggle that I had for decades — how difficult it was for me.”
Now, a proposed state Senate bill aims to create the Child Victims Act fund, designed to provide reimbursement to public school districts or foster care agencies.
Those grants would be allocated in cases where it can be demonstrated that a CVA settlement would impose a substantial financial burden, such as in a rural school district that has a smaller budget.
“We’ve seen that where insurance companies have denied coverage for these kinds of events and school districts are without insurance at all,” said Stephen Schwarz, Yellen’s attorney. “So, we think this is a very positive step.”
Dr. Rick Timbs, director of the statewide School Finance Consortium, said “there also has to be just for the students that occupy these schools right now.”
As such, he believes the state ought to support the financial claims against school districts.
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Republican state senator George Borrello, who endorses the bill, said the proposed $200 million fund could also assist victims in cases where the defendant lacks the funds necessary to fulfill a settlement.
“This is a fund to just hopefully create a stopgap, to ensure that school districts again are not brought to the brink by a potential judgement against them,” Borrello explained.
We’re told Gov. Kathy Hochul will review all legislation once it passes both houses of the state legislature.
If passed, the fund could be part of next year’s state budget.