Commercial Litigation Update

Beginning on March 1, 2023, the statute of limitations for allegations under New York City’s Victims of Gender-Motivated Protection Law (“VGMVPL”) will be extended for two years to afford alleged victims of gender motivated violence a two-year lookback window to bring a civil action for claims that have been previously time barred. Individuals will have from March 1, 2023 to March 1, 2025 to commence a civil suit against such alleged wrongdoers and institutions where they may seek compensatory and punitive damages, injunctive and declaratory relief, attorney’s fees and costs, and such other relief as a court may deem appropriate under VGMVPL for participation in such crimes.

Over the past 15 years, chief compliance officers (“CCOs”) for financial services firms have come under increased scrutiny as the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) have brought more frequent enforcement actions seeking to hold CCOs personally liable. CCOs understandably have been concerned about this trend and financial service firms have focused on the chilling effect that the enforcement actions may have on the vital role CCOs play in their organizations and the quality of the COO applicant pool.

The trend in New York State to provide relief for expired claims by waiving statutes of limitation in sex-abuse cases may be continuing. As its current session winds down, the New York State Legislature is considering legislation that would provide a “revival” one-year period of the statute of limitations within which survivors of adult sexual abuse may file civil claims against individuals, companies and institutions, even if the statute of limitations for the claims has expired, and/or the claims were previously dismissed because of late filing. Entitled “Adult ...

On June 19, 2019, the New York State Senate and Assembly passed legislation that would, if signed into law, broaden the scope of last year’s ban on clauses requiring employees to arbitrate sexual harassment claims so as to prohibit such clauses with respect to all types of discrimination claims. As reported on this blog, this ban on mandatory arbitration clauses was deemed invalid, as contrary to federal law, by the June 26, 2019 decision of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in Latif v. Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, et al. (S.D.N.Y. No. 18-11528). It is too early ...