ALBANY, N.Y. — The Coalition for Just and Compassionate Compensation is an advocacy group representing the interest of New York's Child Victims Act claimants.

"There's over 10,000 in the state and the vast, vast majority of them have not seen justice since the law was passed six years ago," Executive Director David Catalfamo said.

New York was the first state to pass comprehensive legislation addressing civil remedies for survivors of child sex abuse. Catalfamo said 33 states have adopted similar statutes since and some are starting to feel the financial impacts.

"You're seeing it in states like Maryland, where they weren't able to close or discussed not being able to close a $3 billion deficit of just claims against the state alone," Catalfamo said. 

In New York, Catalfamo said most claims remain stuck in litigation and there has been little discussion about the eventual financial impact on state and local governments targeted by lawsuits. 

"It's got to be billions. I mean billions, multiple billions, but that's the problem: we don't know," he said.

The coalition wrote a letter to the state comptroller last month asking for an audit to determine the full scope of governmental financial liability.

"We're hoping that by highlighting the fiscal impact that the state will actually finally pay attention to what has been a long, long-standing problem," Catalfamo said. 

However, the state Comptroller's Office responded to the letter this week, claiming that type of audit is not feasible right now. It pointed out the comptroller is not privy to privileged information the state attorney general may have regarding things like litigation strategy, liability assessments and settlement discussions.

The letter also noted the Legislature is responsible for appropriating funds for damages and settlements on an as-needed basis and the state does not have involvement or significant access to privileged information in litigation against local governments and school districts.

"Average CVA claimants are typically, when this process started, in their 50s and 60s,” said Catalfamo. When are these people going to get justice?”

Further complicating the issue is a recent Court of Appeals decision regarding specificity of dates and times in claims against the state of New York Catalfamo says could at least further delay hundreds of cases. The law's original sponsors have indicated they plan to revisit and attempt to amend the language. 

"I think it creates another opportunity for actually people to get smart and get around the table and try to do something to make sure that the promise of the law when it was passed gets met," Catalfamo said.

State Sen. Jeremy Cooney sponsors legislation that establishes a Child Victims Act fund, which would provide grant awards in reimbursement to public school districts and voluntary foster care agencies who are defendants in claims not covered by insurance policies. Catalfamo said if the state passes a bill like that, it should tie the awards to tangible steps the institutions are taking to correct issues that led to the lawsuits in the first place.