The Supreme Court of Maryland voted 4–3 this week to uphold the constitutionality of a 2023 state law repealing the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse lawsuits.
A statute of limitations is a legal provision that bars the filing of a legal action after a specified period of time from the date the alleged crime or injury took place.
The court decision, issued Feb. 3, means that Maryland plaintiffs who allege they experienced sexual abuse as children will be able to sue regardless of how old they are now or when the abuse took place.
The court ruling came after Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown published a lengthy report in April 2023 that stated upward of 150 Catholic priests and individuals associated with the Archdiocese of Baltimore had abused more than 600 children since the 1940s. The abuse uncovered was “pervasive and persistent” and subject to “repeated dismissal or cover up … by the Catholic Church hierarchy,” the report said….