New York City could soon be on the hook for hundreds of millions in damages after lawmakers passed a bill this week allowing previously tossed sexual abuse lawsuits against the city to move forward.

The suits had been filed during a two-year lookback window created by a 2022 City Council law that allowed survivors to sue under the Gender-Motivated Violence Act, regardless of the statute of limitations.

But a Bronx judge threw out hundreds of those cases over the summer, ruling the legislation was too vague.

The bill the Council passed on Tuesday creates a new 18-month window for survivors to file suits once it is enacted. It also clarifies that plaintiffs can sue institutions, not just individuals, for incidents that occurred before the 2022 amendment, which was a legal sticking point.

The legislation is now awaiting the mayor’s signature.

Jerome Block is a lawyer representing 600 plaintiffs suing the city for abuse they allege happened at juvenile detention centers when they were children. In June, 450 of them had their cases dismissed.

He said Tuesday’s vote comes as a relief to survivors.

“When the dismissal of hundreds of cases came down, it was devastating to the survivors. These survivors were failed by the system when they were children, when they were in the custody of the city and sexually abused," he said. "They had the courage to come forward, and then, they basically had the rug pulled out from under them."

Block was among the attorneys, advocates and survivors who had urged Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and other lawmakers for months to move on the bill, which was first introduced in May.

Earlier this month, the city's Law Department agreed to delay action on lawsuits filed under the previous window to prevent more dismissals.

A Council spokesperson previously told Gothamist that lawmakers were taking a deliberate approach to negotiations to ensure no further mistakes were made.

The bill’s main sponsor, Councilmember Selvena Brooks-Powers, said it was always the Council’s intention to allow survivors to sue enabling entities for the abuse they endured.

“We want to make sure that survivors have the ability to seek justice on all levels, and that includes the institutions,” she said.

But a technicality in how the law was written got in the way.

According to City Council records, the original Victims of the Gender-Motivated Violence Act, passed in 2000, allowed for lawsuits against “individuals who committed a crime of violence motivated by gender” and did not mention entities.

The 2022 law attempted to expand liability by replacing “individual” with “party,” but the courts ruled that the change did not apply retroactively.

The new version addresses that issue by creating a civil cause of action for crimes of gender-motivated violence that occurred before Jan. 9, 2022, according to the bill summary.

Under the new law, plaintiffs who filed during the previous window between March 2023 and March 2025 will be able to amend or refile their claims. The law will also allow new lawsuits for older incidents.

The change affects lawsuits not just against the city but also against other enabling entities in New York City, including hospitals. According to amNewYork, a woman who alleges she was abused by Jeffrey Epstein is planning to sue his estate under the new lookback window.

A review by the city’s Office of Management and Budget estimated the bill could cost the city up to $1 billion.

The city’s Law Department did not return a request for comment.