$100 million jury verdict awarded to victim of childhood sexual abuse

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — A woman who was a victim of childhood sexual abuse has been awarded $100 million in a jury verdict, the Lipsitz Green Scime Cambria LLP law office announced Tuesday.

The $100 million verdict is believed to the largest in New York State history for a lawsuit filed under the Child Victims Act.

The law office says that the victim is a 26-year-old woman who was sexually abused for four years beginning when she was 12 years old by a man named Joseph King, of Buffalo, now 39. King was a close friend to the victim’s family.

The jury awarded the $100 million verdict on Monday. It is compromised of $30 million for past damages, $20 million for future damages and $50 million for punitive damages.

“No amount of money will ever be able to give my client back what was taken from her by the despicable acts of this child molester,” said attorney Robert Korp, who represented the woman in court. “Through this verdict, the jury performed a great service by vindicating what my client lived through, respecting her dignity, and providing her with some semblance of peace and solace.”

The lookback window to file new cases under the Child Victim’s Act expired in 2021. However, the status of limitations for felony offenses is until the survivor turns 28 years old. Previously, it was 23.