ALBANY, NY – Hundreds of sexual abuse cases in New York could soon be tossed out of the courtroom.

A new ruling by the Court of Appeals dismissed a case of a man who claims he was sexually abused decades ago. The judge said the victim did not provide enough information to prove the case.

The judge wanted the victim to list the exact dates and times the sexual assaults on him took place back in the 1980s.

Some advocates of sexual assault victims’ rights are now worried this could lead to abusers getting away with their crimes. 

“I am appalled that the courts would do this,” advocate Gary Greenberg said.

Greenberg helped to pass the Child Victims Act into law. He was sexually assaulted when he was 7 years old. Greenberg’s attacker, Louis VanWei, admitted to molesting more than 100 children over the course of decades. With testimony from Greenberg, VanWei was locked away in prison for life.

“The intent of the Child Victims Act was to give all victims an opportunity to go into court and seek justice in a civil court against their abuser or institution. And obviously this ruling will lead to hundreds of cases being thrown out and denying justice for victims,” Greenberg said.

The ruling involved the case of a man who said he was raped and abused numerous times as a child in the Empire State Plaza between 1986 and 1990.

According to the judge’s ruling, the victim’s lawsuit “alleges that the perpetrators included teachers, coaches, counselors, and perhaps other employees of the state, but it does not explain whether those employees were (his) teachers, coaches, and counselors, or why, as a child, he was in their company multiple times between 1986 and 1990.” 

The ruling goes on to say, “The claim also alleges that members of the public were responsible for some of the abuse he suffered, but it does not explain why the victim came into contact with those persons as a child.”

Greenberg is worried this ruling will lead to more dangerous, violent sexual predators back in New York neighborhoods and on New York streets.

“Basically, the judge threw a lot of cases out and said, the Child Victims Act doesn’t matter.”