33 New Lawsuits Filed Against Diocese of Albany Under New York Child Victims Act

“It is survivors who have courageously undertaken the mission of protecting future generations from abuse.”

(Albany, NY) – Today, attorneys from the law firms of Jeff Anderson & Associates and LaFave Wein & Frament, on behalf of numerous courageous survivors, filed another 33 child sexual abuse complaints under the New York Child Victims Act (CVA) against the Diocese of Albany. The firm has now filed a total of 107 lawsuits against the Diocese.

“We are honored to stand with these survivors in their pursuit of truth and accountability,” said attorney Jeff Anderson. “Until the Diocese disgorges the secrets that it has kept hidden for decades, children remain at peril.”

Among the complaints:
  • Seven complaints allege abuse by known offender Brother Clement Adan Murphy, C.F.C. during the 1960s and 1970s when he was assigned to Bishop Gibbons High School and Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons High School in Schenectady. The law firms have now filed a total of 8 lawsuits implicating Br. Murphy. Br. Murphy is deceased.
  • Two complaints name lay teacher Michael Scaringe (f/k/a Michael Josephson) and allege abuse in the 1970s at St. Helen in Schenectady and St. Paul the Apostle in Schenectady. Scaringe was a music teacher at both schools. In 1996, Scaringe was criminally charged and acquitted of sexually abusing a child at Bay Point Middle School in St. Petersburg, Florida, where he worked as a substitute band teacher. In 2012, Scaringe was criminally convicted of sexually abusing a child he accessed through the Saranac Lake Youth Center in Saranac Lake, New York, where he was the director. During the course of Scaringe’s criminal trial, several survivors testified that Scaringe had sexually abused them as minors when he was a music teacher in the Tupper Lake Central School District in New York. Scaringe served 7 years in prison. He is a registered sex offender and resides in Cohoes, New York.
  •  Two complaints allege abuse by serial offender Brother James Vincent Hanney, C.F.C. in the 1970s when he was working at Bishop Gibbons High School and Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons High School in Schenectady. The law firms have now filed a total of 12 lawsuits implicating Br. Hanney. Br. Hanney is alive and believed to be residing in the Bronx.
  • One complaint names notorious offender Father Frank Genevive, O.F.M., who in 2008 was criminally convicted of sexually abusing multiple minors between approximately 1977 and 1989 while he was assigned to St. Anthony of Padua in Troy. Fr. Genevive died in 2014.

“We’re bringing forth another thirty-three filings against the Albany Diocese on behalf of survivors today. These filings bring the total number of survivors to a staggering 107 in Albany County,” said attorney Cynthia LaFave. “Each of these filings represents another life irrevocably altered; not only by the perpetrator in question, but by the actions and inaction of the Diocese. I can think of no obligation more fundamental to the Diocese’s avowed purpose than to regard and defend the safety of the human lives they purport to serve. Nonetheless, it is survivors who have courageously undertaken the mission of protecting future generations from abuse. Make no mistake, each of these survivors is a beacon in their own right.”

 

Despite Governor Cuomo’s commendable executive order to extend the CVA deadline by five months and, more recently, New York legislators’ unanimous approval of a one-year extension it is best that survivors take action before the initial deadline of August 13, 2020 to take full advantage of their rights under the CVA.

“These courageous survivors are bringing suit to prevent other children from suffering as they did when they were kids,” said attorney Taylor Stippel. “As of right now, survivors must bring suit before the CVA deadline of August 13. We hope that the bravery of these survivors will inspire others to take action now.”