United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

August Term 2023

Argued: November 9, 2023 Decided: March 20, 2024

No. 22-1442

BRITTANY N. JONES, a.k.a. BRITTANY N. FINCH,

Plaintiff-Appellant,

v.

CATTARAUGUS-LITTLE VALLEY CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT,

Defendant-Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of New York No. 19-cv-707, William M. Skretny, Judge.

Before: RAGGI, SULLIVAN and LEE, Circuit Judges.

Brittany Jones appeals from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Western District of New York (Skretny, J.) granting summary judgment to Cattaraugus-Little Valley Central School District on Jones’s civil claims alleging that she was sexually abused by a teacher when she was a high school student between 2009 and 2011. Jones brought her otherwise time-barred claims pursuant to the claim-revival provision of New York’s Child Victims Act (the “CVA”), N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 214-g, which permitted plaintiffs to assert claims arising from their sexual abuse as minors during a two-year filing window from August 14, 2019 to August 14, 2021. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the school district on the ground that Jones’s suit was filed four months before the start of the two-year window. Because the two-year window had already closed by the time of the district court’s judgment, Jones was unable to refile her dismissed claims. Central to the district court’s decision was its assumption that Jones’s premature filing created a valid statute-of-limitations defense for the school district. But the district court did not explain this assumption, and no New York court has interpreted section 214-g’s waiting period as a statute of limitations. Given the lack of state court decisions to guide us and the significant state policy interests implicated by the CVA, we reserve decision on this appeal in order to CERTIFY the following question to the New York Court of Appeals: whether the six-month waiting period for claims filed pursuant to the claim-revival provision of New York’s Child Victims Act, N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 214-g, establishes a statute of limitations, a condition precedent to bringing suit, or some other affirmative defense.

QUESTION CERTIFIED.

VIRGINIA H. MCMICHAEL, Appellate Law Group LLC, Radnor, PA, for Plaintiff- Appellant.

PATRICK J. HINES (Alexandria N. Rowen, on the brief), Hodgson Russ LLP, Buffalo, NY, for Defendant-Appellee. PER CURIAM:

Brittany Jones appeals from a June 14, 2022 judgment of the United States District Court for the Western District of New York (William M. Skretny, J.) granting summary judgment to Cattaraugus-Little Valley Central School District

2 on Jones’s civil claims alleging that she was sexually abused by a teacher when she was a high school student between 2009 and 2011. Jones brought her otherwise time-barred claims pursuant to the claim-revival provision of New York’s Child Victims Act (the “CVA”), N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 214-g, which permitted plaintiffs to assert claims arising from their sexual abuse as minors during a two-year filing window from August 14, 2019 to August 14, 2021. The district court granted s