Timothy Hill Children’s Ranch settles three Child Victims Act lawsuits for $1.7 million: court filing

Timothy Hill Children’s Ranch has agreed to pay $1.7 million to settle three lawsuits brought against it under the New York Child Victims Act, according to a document filed in the Riverhead-based company’s ongoing bankruptcy case. 

Plaintiffs in the three lawsuits, filed in 2019, are men who allege they suffered sexual, physical and emotional abuse while they lived at the facility at different times in the 1980s and 1990s. Each will be paid $566,666.66 in settlement of all claims against the ranch, its employees, board of directors and founders. 

Timothy Hill Children’s Ranch disclosed the settlements in a proposed reorganization plan filed yesterday in the ongoing Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding commenced in October. The three plaintiffs will be paid in full within 30 days of the effective date of the plan, which must first be confirmed by the bankruptcy court.

A fourth Child Victims Act lawsuit, brought by a woman who alleges she was sexually assaulted and raped at the facility in 1992 while visiting friends who lived there, has not yet been settled, according to the court filing. Timothy Hill Children’s Ranch  states in the proposed reorganization plan that it “believes the claim is worth no more than $50,000” and will place that amount in escrow with its attorneys until the bankruptcy court determines the amount due to the plaintiff.

Timothy Hill Children’s Ranch  has continued to operate its business for the duration of the bankruptcy proceeding.

The proposed reorganization plan states that Timothy Hill Children’s Ranch will pay its secured and unsecured creditors (other than the Child Victims Act lawsuit claimants) the full amounts of their claims. 

Timothy Hill Children’s Ranch, founded in June 1976 by Jerrell and Fern Hill, is a tax-exempt nonprofit organization that, as of the date of its bankruptcy petition, had assets valued at an estimated total of more than $13.6 million, of which approximately $11.95 million was attributed to the company’s real estate holdings. Six of its eight properties were in the Town of Riverhead, including a 66-acre residential facility on Middle Road, four other houses on Middle Road, a house on Old Farm Road and a house on Sound Avenue. 

Timothy Hill Children’s Ranch is licensed by the Office of Children and Family Services. Today, it has contracts with Suffolk County and 11 other counties in New York State for the care of children referred to Timothy Hill Children’s Ranch for residence at the Riverhead facility. The company also operates residential campuses in Tennessee and Arkansas, as well as retreat centers in New York, Massachusetts and Tennessee, according to bankruptcy case filings. 

The lawsuits brought by men who resided at the ranch as children claim that lack of supervision by ranch employees “allowed the older residents to sexually, physically and emotionally abuse” them while they were in the care and custody of the Riverhead facility. They also allege that the ranch and its employees covered up the attacks rather than address them, allowing the children to be subjected to continued victimization. 

The three actions, all brought by attorney Regina Calcaterra, have many similarities. All three plaintiffs were among the smallest residents. All three allege that the ranch’s serious lack of supervision allowed for lawlessness and violence to occur among the residents, with smaller residents being targeted by those bigger and older than them. All three allege they were sexually assaulted after ”lights out” in the houses where they stayed, when there was virtually no supervision of residents.

One plaintiff, then 12, was hospitalized for internal injuries following a forcible rape by a 16-year-old resident. The 16-year-old was subsequently criminally charged.

The fourth lawsuit, brought by a woman who alleges she was raped in 1992 by a 20-year-old resident of the ranch while visiting friends there when she was 14, was filed by attorney Sherri Plotkin.

Timothy Hill Children’s Ranch denied the allegations in all four actions.

The Child Victims Act is a state law that took effect in August 2019 that revived sexual abuse actions previously time-barred under New York law. The act opened a one-year window when any adult survivor of child sexual abuse could file a civil lawsuit against their abuser — including public and private institutions — no matter how long ago the abuse took place.

The bankruptcy proceeding will be concluded after a hearing on the proposed reorganization plan and confirmation of the plan.