COLUMBUS (OH)
Canton Repository
Friday, November 11, 2005 COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The chairman of the Ohio House Judiciary Committee said he hadn’t decided what to do next about a bill that would give victims of past sex abuse a new chance to sue.
After 60 minutes of debate Thursday, doubts remained about the legality of a provision to open a one-year window in which a victim could bring a lawsuit over sexual abuse going back as far as 35 years.
Chairman John Willamowski, R-Lima, said he’ll gauge the opinions of committee members before deciding what to do next. Only two of the members said they supported the bill as written.
The Senate-passed bill is opposed by the Roman Catholic Church, which already has paid millions of dollars to settle lawsuits stemming from sex abuse by priests.