Four Winds Hospital Lawsuit: Abuse Claims and Filing Deadlines

Roughly 30 former patients have filed a Four Winds Hospital sexual abuse lawsuit in New York, accusing staff at the private psychiatric facility’s Katonah and Saratoga Springs campuses of sexually abusing children and adolescents during inpatient treatment. Most of the cases were filed in Westchester County Supreme Court starting in December 2024. Four Winds has denied the allegations and asked the courts to dismiss them.¹

Who Filed the Lawsuits and When

On December 10, 2024, attorneys Amber Long and Rebecca Kimmel of Levy Konigsberg filed 20 lawsuits in Westchester County Supreme Court on behalf of former child patients.² At least 10 more have been filed since, and the plaintiffs’ attorneys say they expect additional former patients to come forward.³

The plaintiffs were between 6 and 20 years old at the time of the alleged incidents, which they say occurred between 2000 and 2023.¹ Most of the cases involve the Katonah campus. At least seven target the Saratoga Springs facility.³

What the Lawsuits Allege

The complaints describe sexual abuse by hospital employees, including groping in showers, forced oral sex, and rape.¹ One complaint alleges that a 14-year-old patient at Saratoga Springs was sedated by injection and then groped by a staff member while incapacitated. Another says a 12-year-old was forced to touch an employee’s genitals while the employee watched the child shower, after being threatened with a longer hospitalization if the child refused.³

Plaintiffs also say staff used coercive tactics to keep them silent: threatening to extend stays, telling children no one would believe them, calling them “crazy,” and using overmedication as a tool of control.¹

Claims Against the Hospital Itself

Beyond the abuse allegations, the lawsuits accuse Four Winds of institutional failures that allowed the misconduct to continue. Plaintiffs allege the hospital “created an environment where sexual misconduct was tolerated and enabled,” failed to investigate reports of sexual assault, breached its duty under New York social services law to report abuse to authorities, and engaged in unfair and deceptive business practices.³

Specific negligence allegations include that bedroom doors in at least one patient wing lacked locks, that the hospital withheld medical and treatment records from a parent under the guise of confidentiality, and that it delayed reporting abuse to the New York State Justice Center until after the victim had already been discharged.⁴

Earlier Criminal Charges and Police Reports

These are not the first abuse allegations at Four Winds. In February 2017, a Katonah employee named Dominic Sbordone was arrested and charged with third-degree criminal sexual acts and second-degree sexual abuse involving a 19-year-old patient.⁵ Earlier civil suits alleging sexual abuse at the facilities date back to at least 2015.³

Court documents filed in September 2024 reference a New York State Police investigation into a 2023 incident at the Westchester “Gatehouse Cottage,” in which two inpatient youths were alleged to have raped a 10-year-old resident. A Saratoga Springs Police spokesperson also confirmed that reports of abuse at the Saratoga facility have been made to law enforcement.¹

How Old Claims Can Still Be Filed

Much of the alleged abuse occurred years or decades ago, and would ordinarily be barred by the statute of limitations. New York’s Child Victims Act, passed in 2019, changed that. It extended the filing deadline for future claims and opened a two-year revival window from 2019 to 2021 that allowed survivors to sue regardless of when the abuse occurred.³

Attorney Amber Long told the Times Union she began seeing many claims of sexual abuse at Four Winds after that revival window. For claims involving privately operated residential treatment centers like Four Winds, the extended statute of limitations now allows survivors born after February 14, 1998, to file suit until they turn 55.⁴

Where the Cases Stand Now

As of mid-2025, the litigation remains in its early stages. Four Winds has filed answers containing blanket denials and has asked the courts to dismiss the cases. The parties are now in discovery, with plaintiffs’ attorneys seeking internal records on abuse reports, facility policies, and potential abusers, while Four Winds has requested detailed verified bills of particulars from the plaintiffs.¹

No settlements, settlement figures, or trial dates have been publicly reported. Four Winds has not responded to media requests for comment from either the Times Union or CBS6.³

About Four Winds Hospital

Four Winds is a private psychiatric hospital providing inpatient and outpatient mental health treatment to children as young as five, adolescents, and adults. Its Westchester campus in Katonah has 178 beds and its Saratoga Springs campus has 88 beds. The hospital is licensed by the New York State Office of Mental Health and accredited by The Joint Commission.⁶

The hospital was purchased in 1978 by Dr. Samuel C. Klagsbrun, who served as its executive medical director until his death in November 2023 at age 91.⁷ The Saratoga Springs campus opened in 1986. Publicly available information does not identify a current owner or corporate parent for the hospital.

1
CBS6 Albany. Lawsuits Filed Against Four Winds Allege Sexual Abuse at Psychiatric Hospitals
2
PR Newswire. Levy Konigsberg Attorneys Amber Long and Rebecca Kimmel File 20 Sexual Abuse Lawsuits Against Four Winds Hospital in Westchester County
3
Times Union. Lawsuits Detail Sexual Abuse Allegations Against Four Winds Hospital
4
Levy Konigsberg. Four Winds Hospital Sexual Abuse Lawsuits
5
lohud. Four Winds Sexual Abuse Claim
6
Four Winds Hospital. About Four Winds
7
Legacy.com. Samuel Klagsbrun Obituary