$380M Sex Abuse Lawsuit Against Yeshiva University Dismissed

A $380 million lawsuit against Yeshiva University filed by 34 ex-students of the university’s all-boys high school was dismissed by a judge Thursday.

The New York Post Reports that Manhattan federal Judge John Koeltl dismissed the case on his opinion that the statutes of limitations, has passed since the victims – ranging in age from late-30s to early-60s waited too long to file charges.

Kevin Mulhearn, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, said he plans to appeal.

The lawsuit alleges the university covered up years of sexual and physical abuse by two rabbis who sexually assaulted then-teenage boys between 1969 and 1989 at the Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy.

Accusations were against Rabbi Macy Gordon, a former teacher accused of sodomizing a victim with a toothbrush during an attack in a dorm room. The suit stated the attack was reported to the school in 1980 by the victim and the victim’s father, but that officials did not report it to authorities. 

Other accusations from different plaintiffs are against Rabbi George Finkelstein, a former principal at the school, and Richard Andron, a former student and acquaintance of Finkelstein, who was allegedly allowed to walk freely throughout the school’s hallways and dorms.

The students say they they came forward with their accusations decades later after a December 2012 story was published in the Jewish newspaper The Forward that stated Yeshiva University Chancellor at that time, Norman Lamm, acknowledged the quiet departure of both rabbis after the sexual abuse accusations.