A retired bishop in New York State announced he was taking a leave of absence two days after a lawsuit was filed alleging he molested an teenage boy.
On August 16, Bishop Emeritus Howard Hubbard of the Diocese of Albany took an absence from the Diocese of Albany. In a suit filed August 14, a plaintiff identified only as P.R alleged Hubbard sexually abused him repeatedly in the mid-1990s, when P.R. was 16.
Hubbard “used his position as a priest to groom and to sexually abuse” the then-teen between 1994 and 1998, according to WNYT.
The lawsuit was filed the first day New York’s Child Victims Act (CVA) went into effect. The statute, which will remain in effect for one year, removes the statute of limitations on filing a lawsuit alleging child sex-abuse. It’s already been used to sue the Governing Body of the Jehovah’s Witnesses for covering up abuse, and legal experts expect more religious institutions and community organizations to face similar suits.
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