Mayor Adams, Jamie Foxx, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Governor Cuomo, and Axl Rose: these are a few of the high-profile names facing sexual assault allegations, after a slew of lawsuits was filed in recent weeks. 

The timing isn’t a coincidence: Thanksgiving marked the deadline for filing legal action under New York State’s Adult Survivors Act. The law, passed as part of the #metoo phenomenon, allowed women (and in a handful of cases, men) to file lawsuits alleging sex assault, even if the  statute of limitations had long expired.