“Before you diagnose yourself with depression or low self-esteem first make sure that you are not, in fact, just surrounding yourself with assholes.”

— William Gibson

Recently, there was a mad rush to file claims for various forms of assault and/or harassment that had occurred and had been time-barred by one or another statutes preventing victims who either could not or would not file a timely claim against the perpetrator. Thousands of claims were filed by men and women who had been imprisoned and had been assaulted sexually — and knew that filing such a complaint while incarcerated was tantamount to an invitation to a murder. Their own.

So, one of our illustrious State Senators Brad Hoylman introduced The Adult Survivors Act which allowed the late filing regardless of how long ago the offense was committed. And, there is discussion about extending beyond the November 24th deadline which just passed.

“I’m hopeful that I can convince colleagues of either another extension or permanent window,” Mr. Hoylman-Sigal said.

The real problem for those who did file was this:

If you could not interest a lawyer in taking your case — either because he or she didn’t believe it could easily be won OR if you were not aware of the Act’s existence and missed the deadline — you were out of luck. Filing the case yourself created other, big problems.

I tried to file my cases against Bellevue and South Beach Psychiatric Center. The court sent me to the wrong website, gave me incorrect information and my pro se filing, after paying for the privilege of filing online, was invalidated.

How many other victims are there out there who could not find a lawyer or filed pro se too late due to unhelpful court workers — and simply lost the opportunity to lodge their legitimate complaints?

In addition to not being able to practice in mental health with a great deal of experience due to the great licensing scam (enacted long after the fact of earning the appropriate degree) — I knew many dangerously unstable people practicing in the field — who are incompetent, at best.

Some are predators and abusers — since licensing does not identify this. Only experience in working with predators does.

Stay Tuned

COMMUNITY UPDATE: Last Community Council Thursday 11/30 @6:00 @NYPD 16 Ericsson Pl.