A trial judge wrongly found that litigation against Gannett Co. Inc. filed by three plaintiffs who claim they were sexually abused as children by a supervisor while newspaper carriers in the 1980s belonged before a workers compensation panel and not in civil court, a New York appeals court ruled Friday.
The New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, said the trial judge erred in granting a motion by Gannett to stay the litigation and refer the matter to the Workers’ Compensation Board over questions about workers comp exclusive remedy.
The plaintiffs separately sued Gannett for negligence and the cases were consolidated.
Gannett sought to have the comp board determine whether the injuries occurred during the course of employment and were therefore subject to workers comp.
The appellate court said that while the workers comp board has jurisdiction over factual questions regarding the workers comp process, civil courts still retain jurisdiction over alleged violations of the state Child Victims Act that is the basis for the litigation.
The appellate court said that instead of referring the matter to the workers comp board, the trial judge should have determined whether the Child Victims Act “revives otherwise time-barred claims for workers’ compensation benefits, based on allegations of sexual abuse by a coworker,” the ruling states.
The appeals court reversed and remanded the case to the trial court.
