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Judge Jeffrey Berry was accused of assaulting a teenage girl between 1970 and 1972 when he was a teacher and she was a student at Cornwall High School in New Windsor.
The lawsuit filed in Orange County Supreme Court alleges that Berry met a student in the fall of 1970 when she was 16 and a sophomore at the school. The lawsuit states that his alleged victim suffered emotional and psychological distress that have persisted to this day.
The complaint states that Berry was “grooming” the girl, talking to her during class, winking at her in the hallway and making flirtatious or suggestive remarks toward her. Berry allegedly did the girl favors and inappropriately touched her.
The victim said the two had sex in Berry’s car, bedroom and parking lots during her last two years in high school.
Berry, a longtime Orange County Court judge, and City of Newburgh judge, retired in 2015. He’s currently on the Orange County Board of Ethics on a term that expires at the end of 2021.
On Wednesday, Aug. 14, a provision of New York’s Child Victims Act took effect, making the start of the one-year period when alleged victims can file claims against alleged abusers and institutions that protected them, no matter how long ago the abuse may have occurred.
Victims of sexual abuse in New York previously were required to file any civil lawsuits before they turned 23. Under the new law, anyone under the age of 55 can file a lawsuit, and during the one-year window, older victims can also make claims.
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