October 16, 2024
Contact: press@justice4survivors.com, (203) 641-6681
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTINENTAL INSURANCE CO. REFUSED TO JOIN OTHER LIABILITY CARRIERS IN CONTRIBUTING TO A SETTLEMENT
ROCHESTER, NY – Justice is being delayed in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester’s bankruptcy case, in part because of Continental Insurance Company’s (CNA) refusal to contribute to a settlement. The diocese’s plan, which would have established a $127.3 million trust fund to pay out claims, was approved by more than 400 survivors of sexual abuse. CNA is one of numerous insurers across the state refusing to pay out settlements in sexual abuse cases, in clear defiance of New York’s Child Victims Act.
In a recent letter to the Department of Financial Services, New York State Senator Hoylman-Sigal and New York Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal called on the agency to uphold its own guidance on enforcement of the Child Victims Act, the state law that was passed to extend the statute of limitations for criminal and civil sexual abuse cases in New York. Without enforcement of this law, it’s clear the insurance industry will continue to ignore it.
“Survivors have already been waiting decades for justice and because of the insurance industry’s refusal to contribute to settlements, they’re forced to continue to suffer,” said Dave Catalfamo, Executive Director of the CJCC. “Insurance companies’ greed isn’t surprising, but the continued fecklessness of the Department of Financial Services to enforce their own guidance is maddening. DFS needs to stop sitting on their hands and do their job so survivors of childhood sexual abuse can get the restitution they deserve.”
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The Coalition for Just and Compassionate Compensation (“CJCC”) is an independent alliance of survivors of child sex abuse, their representatives, and advocates seeking full restitution for survivors of child sex abuse. Among members of the coalition are author and journalist Stephen Jimenez, a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and longtime advocate who helped pass the Child Victims Act (CVA), and attorneys James Marsh, Founding Partner at Marsh Law Firm, Jeff Herman, Founder of Herman Law Firm, and Hillary Nappi, Partner at Hach Rose Schirripa & Cheverie, who represent thousands of sexual abuse survivors in litigation against public and private entities.