By Bob Katzen
The House last week gave initial approval to a bill, approved by the Senate in July, that would allow victims of child sexual abuse to file a civil suit, any time after the abuse took place, against an individual who sexually abused a minor or negligently supervised a person who sexually abused a minor.
This would replace current law that places a statute of limitations which limits the time period during which a victim is allowed to sue, to the later of either 35 years after the abuse or seven years after discovery of damages relating to the abuse, with both timeframes beginning to run when the minor turns 18.
Prior to 2014, the law allowed even less time to file a suit. The statute of limitations was limited to three years after a victim turned 18. That law was changed by the Legislature in 2014 to reflect current law.
When the Senate first approved the bill on July 31, sponsor Sen. Joan Loverly (D-Salem) said, “Back in 2014, we passed a statute of limitations for civil claims of child sexual abuse that would allow claims up to 35 years after the victim turned 18, or until 53 years old. I questioned then, and over the last decade, what was the magic number of 53, and I couldn’t find one. I couldn’t find that answer. So I decided to dig in, to talk to advocates, to talk to survivors, to talk to the public safety [officials].”
Lovely continued, “I want to thank all of the survivors in and out of my district who have come to me, including colleagues, who disclosed to me that at some point in their life they were sexually abused, but they choose not to come forward and disclose because of how painful it is. It really is lifelong pain and trauma.”
The bill is a “great thing” for survivors in Massachusetts, said Sandi Johnson, senior legislative policy counsel at the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network.
“We believe that survivors should have access to justice, regardless of when they’re able to access that justice,” said Johnson. “Eliminating that statute of limitations puts the focus back on whether or not there’s enough evidence, rather than just arbitrary timelines. Trauma is not a timeline and can’t be governed by a timeline.”
Reps. Ken Gordon (D-Bedford) and John Lawn (D-Watertown) who filed earlier versions of the bill, did not respond to repeated requests by Beacon Hill Roll Call asking them to comment on this bill.