MAY 30, 2024
Contact: press@justice4survivors.com | 978-807-7950
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Albany, New York – With just days remaining in this year’s legislative session, a mobile billboard is sending a message directly to Albany leaders across the capital city: “Albany: WAKE UP. 10,000 Child Sex Abuse Survivors Still Waiting on Justice. ENFORCE THE CVA NOW.”
The push comes as insurers across New York refuse to pay Child Victims Act (CVA) claims, in clear defiance of Department of Financial Services (DFS) guidance that insurance companies should cooperate fully with the intent of the CVA. More than five years after the passage of the CVA, 10,000 survivors are still waiting for justice.
For months, survivors and advocates have called on DFS, Albany legislators and the Attorney General to investigate insurers who refuse to comply with the CVA and who continue to delay and deny payment in child sexual abuse cases. CHUBB – the world’s largest publicly traded property and casualty insurance company, reporting billions in record profits – is attempting to refuse paying claims in child sexual abuse cases, and the DFS is dragging its feet in enforcing its own guidance.
“Make no mistake about it: every day that insurers like CHUBB are allowed to defy the CVA risks more child sexual abuse survivors dying before they see an ounce of restitution. Albany has the power to help,” said David Catalfamo, Executive Director of the CJCC. “Dozens of survivors from across New York State have written to DFS offices calling for a crackdown on insurers attempting to escape payment in CVA cases, but have been met with silence. Survivors of child sexual abuse have been through enough. It’s high time for DFS to do its job and ensure insurers are held accountable for refusing to comply with the CVA.”
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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 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.