Senate panel advances bill to open ‘lookback window’ for child sexual abuse claims

A key Maryland Senate committee on Friday voted to advance a bill that would revive out-of-date civil claims related to childhood sexual abuse, a major victory for survivors who have pushed for years to bring lawsuits against abusers and the institutions that protected them.

The 10-1 vote in favor of the bill is also a blow to the Catholic Church, which opposed legislation to open a “lookback window” for claims that have already expired under existing statutes of limitations.

If the bill goes on to pass the Maryland General Assembly, the church is likely to face a crush of new lawsuits, especially in light of the impending release of a grand jury report into sexual abuse and coverups in the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

Early details of the report, which is expected to name dozens of clergy who have never before been publicly accused of sexual abuse, brought new momentum for the bill in the 2023 legislative session. Friday’s favorable vote from the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, which in previous years failed to advance the legislation, gives the bill the best chance yet of passing.

The bill, called the The Child Victims Act of 2023, would also abolish the statute of limitations for all future childhood sexual abuse claims. Abuse survivors often don’t come forward with claims for decades, so short statutes of limitations can make it difficult to hold abusers accountable in court.

In an emailed statement, the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests applauded the committee’s vote.

“Delayed disclosure is the rule rather than the exception, therefore changing the legislation to reflect current trends in reporting enables more survivors to pursue justice,” said Mike McDonnell, the group’s communications manager. “By providing police, prosecutors, and the public with information about abusers and enablers, this aids in preventing further incidents.”

The bill will now head to the Maryland Senate for a vote. Versions of the legislation have passed the House of Delegates repeatedly in previous years.

If passed, the law will almost certainly face an immediate constitutional challenge. Opponents of the bill have argued it is unconstitutional to retroactively remove a statute of limitations — and in this case, the law will face an even greater test because lawmakers in 2017 passed a “statute of repose” that created a hard cutoff blocking future lawsuits based on claims that were already out of date.

Unlike statutes of limitations, which begin to run when an injury occurs, statutes of repose are based on a finite time frame — 20 years, for example — instead of being linked to the timing of an injury.

Statutes of repose are rare and are typically used in construction to give builders and property owners some certainty about their long-term liability.

The statute of repose was added in 2017, when Maryland legislators passed a law to extend the statute of limitations for civil childhood sexual abuse claims to 20 years after the victim reaches the age of majority, or 18 years old. Lawmakers have said they did not realize they were including a statute of repose, and the question of who added that language to the bill remains unclear.

On Friday, the Senate panel amended the Child Victims Act to allow for an interlocutory appeal, or an appeal that will put all litigation on hold until it is decided, to determine the law’s constitutionality.

The amendment means Maryland’s Supreme Court will have a relatively quick opportunity to rule on whether the statute of repose issue renders the bill unconstitutional.

“We’ll get an answer on the constitutional issue immediately so that, up or down, we can move on,” said committee Chair William C. “Will” Smith Jr., D-Montgomery, who sponsored the bill.

Sen. Chris West, a Republican who represents parts of Baltimore and Carroll counties, was the sole “no” vote on the bill.

“I am absolutely convinced that this bill is unconstitutional and will be so held by the Maryland Supreme Court when it gets an early chance to rule on this matter,” West said.

The bill caps noneconomic damages against private entities at $1.5 million in revived claims, but does not cap economic damages. Damages against public institutions are generally capped at $850,000.

Opponents of the bill argue that the distinction between private and public institutions is unfair.

The Maryland Catholic Conference said Friday that the church believes the bill will be found unconstitutional and that passing the legislation would give abuse survivors false hope for new legal options.

“We continue to oppose this legislation which is both unconstitutional and unfair in its disparate treatment of victims of abuse,” said Susan Gibbs, a spokesperson for the conference. “The draconian provision of an unlimited window for currently time-barred civil cases to be filed, regardless of when they occurred, is nearly unprecedented among similar laws passed in other states.”