Lisa Desjardins:

New York state's new law is particularly sweeping. Now individuals can file civil lawsuits over childhood sexual abuse until they are 55 years old. The limit had been 23.

It also allows anyone of any age one year to file a case from the past in a so-called look-back window. This allows for a flood of lawsuits, including against the Catholic Church, the Boy Scouts and, in the case we will discuss tonight, Rockefeller University in Manhattan.

This year, the school acknowledged the late Dr. Reginald Archibald sexually abused children in his care at the university's hospital, touching and fondling them for no medical reason. He often took photos of them naked.

The number of children abused is potentially in the thousands. Archibald worked in pediatrics for four decades, starting in 1940. He died in 2007.

Jennifer Freeman is an attorney with the Marsh Law Firm, which is representing some 550 plaintiffs in these new lawsuits.

One of those plaintiffs is Gail Coleman, who saw Dr. Archibald several times as a child, starting in 1974, at age 11.

Thank you, ladies.

Jennifer, let me just start with you.

This is a historic law. What is the potential scope of this? And what could this mean for abuse survivors?