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THE PLAINTIFFS’ REQUEST TO PROCEED ANONYMOUSLY IN THIS CHILD VICTIMS ACT CASE WAS NOT SUPPORTED BY SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE OF ANY HARM WHICH WOULD RESULT FROM USING PLAINTIFFS’ LEGAL NAMES IN THE CAPTION (FIRST DEPT). ​

The First Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined the plaintiffs in this Child Victims Act action should not have been allowed to proceed anonymously. The request was not supported by sufficient evidence of harm which would result from using plaintiff’s legal names in the caption:

Several New York courts “have addressed the legislature’s intent in enacting the CVA [Child Victims Act] with respect to the use of pseudonyms and concluded that the legislature ‘left it up to each alleged victim to determine whether to seek anonymity’ . . . [and] ‘left it to the courts to assess each individual case'” … . This Court has held that permission to use a pseudonym will not be granted automatically and has noted that the motion court “should exercise its discretion to limit the public nature of judicial proceedings sparingly and then, only when unusual circumstances necessitate it” … . In determining whether to grant a plaintiff’s request to proceed anonymously, the motion court must “‘use its discretion in balancing plaintiff’s privacy interest against the presumption in favor of open trials and against any potential prejudice to defendant'”… . A plaintiff seeking permission to proceed anonymously by employing a pseudonym must provide facts specific to the plaintiff that will allow the motion court to exercise its discretion in an informed manner … .

Here, plaintiffs’ motion to allow 33 unnamed plaintiffs to proceed anonymously should have been denied because plaintiffs failed to submit sufficient evidence to support the relief requested. Plaintiffs only submitted a short attorney affirmation, which merely repeated the relief requested in the order to show cause and made a single vague statement that plaintiffs might suffer further mental harm should their identities be revealed. Plaintiffs failed to provide any specific evidence as to why each unnamed plaintiff should be entitled to proceed anonymously … . Twersky v Yeshiva Univ., 2022 NY Slip Op 00366, First Dept 1-20-22

 

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