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The NYC Gender-Motivated Violence Act (“GMVA”) was enacted effective December 19, 2000, in response to the Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Morrison, 529 U.S. 598 (2000), which struck down substantial portions of the federal Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (“VAWA”) as unconstitutional under the Interstate Commerce clause and the Equal Protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The purpose of the GMVA, as the municipal iteration of VAWA, was to permit survivors of gender-motivated violence to bring a civil action for damages against the individuals who allegedly committed such acts. It provides that “any person claiming to be injured by a party who commits, directs, enables, participates in, or conspires in the commission of a crime of violence motivated by gender has a cause of action against such party in any court of competent jurisdiction for [damages].” Originally, the GMVA only provided that individuals could be sued, but in January 2022, the City Council updated the law to provide that entities could be sued under the GMVA if they facilitated or participated in the acts giving rise to GMVA claims.
Actions brought under the GMVA must be commenced within seven years of the alleged act or acts from which they arise, but if a plaintiff is prevented from commencing the action due to infancy or injury or disability arising from the acts giving rising to the claim, such claim must be brought within nine years. In 2022, the City Council amended the law to provide a “look-back” revival period, whereby claims which were time-barred could be brought between March 1, 2023, and March 1, 2025, but the Bronx County Supreme Court recently ruled that this “look-back” revival period did not apply to claims against non-individual entities, and dismissed a number of GMVA cases against the City of New York and other institutional defendants as a result.
In November 2025, the City Council amended the GMVA to provide that claims which were previously time-barred and arose from incidents allegedly occurring before January 9, 2022 may be brought within eighteen months of the effective date of the amendment, but Mayor Adams—in one of his last official acts—vetoed the measure. On January 29, 2026, the City Council overrode the veto. This means that plaintiffs have until July 29, 2027, to file GMVA claims that are otherwise time-barred. This includes amending complaints in extant cases to assert GMVA claims as appropriate, and extends to claims arising from acts alleged to have occurred before December 19, 2000, the effective date of the GMVA’s original enactment.
Conclusion
The geographical scope of the GMVA’s applicability remains somewhat unsettled. Although the intent of the GMVA was to afford a private right of action for victims of specified crimes which were committed in New York City and by or against New York City residents, courts have been inconsistent in determining whether the GMVA applies to conduct occurring beyond the territorial confines of the City (or even the State), and between two people who were not, at the time of the alleged acts, New York City residents.
Should you have any questions or comments, as always, please feel free to contact David Bloom and Brennan P. Breeland.
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