Lawsuit Accuses Eric Adams of Sexual Abuse in 1993

The Times does not typically identify people who claim they have been victims of sexual violence.

In addition to sexual assault, the woman also accuses Mr. Adams and the department of employment discrimination, retaliation, hostile work environment and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The plaintiff said in the suit that she and Mr. Adams were both employees of the city. In 1993, Mr. Adams was an officer in the Police Department’s transit bureau, which is also a defendant in the lawsuit. He joined the department itself in 1995, after the transit bureau was absorbed into the larger agency.

The plaintiff could not be reached for comment. Her attorney in New York, Megan Goddard, did not return phone calls and emails seeking comment for this story.

The lawsuit is not the plaintiff’s first. In 2008, she sued American Airlines, arguing that an employee had caused her to fall out of a wheelchair, injuring her back. After four days of trial, a jury decided in favor of the airline.

She sued the Miami-Dade County Public Schools Board in 2009, arguing that she was denied compensation after she was attacked by a student. She lost at trial and then appealed parts of the decision to the Florida Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court, where she won several procedural motions but failed to win a retrial.