Roman Catholic Archbishop of Washington v. John Doe, Board of Education of Harford County v. Doe, The Key School, Inc., et al. v. Valerie Bunker
Maryland Supreme Court held that a law repealing a prior time bar for child sex abuse claims — which had prevented victims from suing once they turned 38 — did not violate a defendant’s vested right to be free from liability because the prior time bar was an ordinary statute of limitations, not a statute of repose. The court concluded that the expiration of a statute of limitations does not create a vested right, while the running of a statute of repose does. Even absent a vested right, however, the court ruled that a law retroactively resurrecting a remedy previously precluded by a statute of limitations must bear “a real and substantial relation to the problem it addressed, ” but found that standard met in the context of child sex abuse claims.
Related Commentary
State High Courts Split on Laws Letting Survivors of Sexual Abuse Sue After Expiration of Statutes of Limitations
State supreme courts have emphasized different constitutional provisions to decide whether bills reviving time-barred civil causes of action for child sexual abuse claims are constitutional.
State Courts Diverge on Allowing Civil Claims for Child Sexual Abuse Outside Statute of Limitations
Due process challenges by schools and churches to laws reviving civil child sexual abuse claims are pending before the North Carolina and Kentucky supreme courts.
State Court Oral Arguments to Watch for in September
Issues on the dockets include climate change, redistricting, and lawsuits by victims of child sexual abuse.