The Maryland Supreme Court ruled Monday that the Child Victims Act is constitutional, notching a huge victory for survivors of childhood sexual assault.
The ruling allows thousands of civil court cases filed against individuals and institutions to continue after being put on hold for more than a year.
“This is a historic victory for survivors to affirm their right to have their voices heard in court,” said Robert Jenner, a managing partner at Jenner Law, who represents victims. “It sends a strong message to institutions that they can no longer rely on procedural loopholes to escape accountability.”
The Child Victims Act allows survivors of childhood abuse to sue their alleged abusers at any time after an incident. Previously there was a time limit for those who wanted to sue.
“My journey began in 2002 when what happened to me was so bad that I completely repressed it and did not uncover memories until 2017,” said Erin Maze, a childhood assault survivor. “For the people that were not ready to share after what happened to them, and for those that silence themselves because of fear of repercussions from the church and from their abusers, it gives them a voice.”
According to a study by BMC Public Health, the average age that a sexual abuse survivor reports the crime is 52, meaning sometimes decades pass between the incident and the victim’s ability to confront it.
The Archdiocese of Washington D.C. was behind a series of legal challenges to the law. The Maryland Supreme Court case was part of a challenge brought by the organization.
The case is based on an arcane legal maneuver called the statute of repose.
Legal experts note that the statute was made with construction companies in mind and has only been used to buffer the liability of those companies if someone is injured in a structure they built years later.
“They believe that there was a statute in 2017 that gave them a vested right not to be subject to any lawsuits,” said Jenner said. “The question is whether that is accurate. In other words, can a legislature change a law that a subsequent legislature has decided is not in the best interest of Maryland citizens, and that's the question that we have to ask.”
Meanwhile, the Baltimore Archdiocese is taking a different approach.
The Church filed for bankruptcy last October.
The Baltimore Archdiocese is still in talks with mediators on how it will pay for the abuse its staff perpetrated.
The Supreme Court ruling could be a reckoning for many other organizations. The Key School and other private schools are facing legal challenges.
The state of Maryland is also facing legal issues that may impact the budget. About 3,500 people have sued the state, mostly for incidents in the juvenile justice system.
Under the law each case could payout up to $890,000.
“This is potentially an enormous liability for the state,” David Romans, an advisor at the Department of Legislative Services, told the General Assembly last month.
Romans noted that there is nothing in the budget to account for cases that are settled after the General Assembly finishes its sessions in April, which means lawmakers may need to add an item in this year’s budget.
The dilemma comes as the state is already facing a deficit of nearly $3 billion for the coming fiscal year.
