Timothy Hill Children’s Ranch
Child Victims Act Litigation
The Firm represents three plaintiffs who were subjected to physical and sexual abuse as child residents at the Timothy Hill Children’s Ranch (“the “Ranch”), a Long Island group home. One of the plaintiffs resided at the Ranch in the early 1980s. The other two plaintiffs resided there for different periods of time beginning in late 1994 to mid-1995. The lawsuits allege that the Ranch failed to protect the children in its custody through its systemically inadequate supervision and safety practices, and detail specific instances where staff members ignored the plaintiffs’ pleadings for help and failed to prevent abuse.
The three lawsuits were filed under the New York Child Victims Act, which addresses the realities of childhood trauma and delayed reporting by allowing adult survivors to bring civil actions after the expiration of the statute of limitations.
In September 2022, a state court judge ordered the Ranch to disclose documents in response to plaintiffs’ requests for discovery regarding their stay at the Ranch and prior incidents of abuse concerning non-party residents. The court ruled that if the Ranch had notice of any physical or sexual abuse involving residents, said documentation may be material and appointed a Special Master to oversee discovery and protect the privacy interests of non-parties.
In September 2023, THCR deposed our three clients. The deposition of Thaddeus Hill, son of THCRfounders and long term THCR Executive Director was scheduled for the following week, after our clientswere deposed. To avoid being deposed, THCR submitted a letter to the court, on a Saturday, just threedays before Thaddeus’s Hill deposition, advising the court that THCR was filing bankruptcy anddemanded a stay of the litigation.
Although THCR has given the impression they filed bankruptcy to avoid paying our clients for thedamages our clients sought, THCR filed bankruptcy to prevent the deposition of Thaddeus Hill and othernamed THCR defendants. This fact has been raised before the US Eastern District of New YorkBankruptcy Court and the THCR defendants have never disavowed plaintiff’s this fact.
By avoiding their own depositions, defendants avoided being exposed to the deposition testimony of ourclients that detailed the sexual assaults and lifetime aftermaths of THCR’s alleged negligence. In lateDecember 2023, just three months after THCR filed bankruptcy, our three clients reached a monetarysettlement term in principle of $1.7 million and a non-compensatory term. The non-compensatory termrequired Thaddeus Hill and others from THCR and defendant Diane Corazzini, to watch designated videoclips of plaintiffs’ deposition testimony, so they can finally be exposed to the detrimental impact theiralleged negligence has had on the plaintiffs, our clients. Such viewing was required to occur before theirattorneys and notarized sworn affidavits.